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about

This song was written in the late 1800's by Annette Hemphill, Governess in the Pike Estate, Achill. Achill was the last breeding place in Western Ireland of the white-tailed sea eagle, recorded locally as late as 1875.

The golden eagle became extinct in Achill with the last reliable sighting on Slievemore in 1912.

The song was collected from Jamsie Kane, Dugort by Michael O’Donnell and Eoin McNamara when collecting songs for the first Scoil Acla song book
in 1987.

lyrics

Isle of the Eagle, farewell to thy mountains,
With all their bright blossoms of purple and gold,
No more shall I sit by their murmuring fountains,
Nor from their bold heights the Atlantic behold.

How glorious to watch the proud billows ascending,
In towers of white foam o'er the dark Isle of Clare,
Or over Dooega's proud percipice bending,
To see them far down shining lovely and fair.

Oh, the flocks wander free on Kildownet's green highlands,
Where the blue winding sound joins the ocean again,
And the clouds rest in crowns on the rock-girded island,
Like nature proclaiming them kings of the main.

Oh, for some bard to sing of thy praises,
Isle of romance with a wild fairy lore,
Or to weave the loose threads into heart-rending stories,
In numbers sublime 'round our own grand Slievemore.

Dear glen of the oaks with thy garden of roses,
Where the wild birds 'ere sing, and the breezes are mild,
Embosomed in mountains, thy beauty reposing,
Like fairylands opening in midst of the wild.

If the sunshine of Genuis around thee were smiling
How many from afar to thy bosom would flee?
But for me has thy solitude charms more beguiling,
Than if fashion had made thee her star of the sea.

Now thy peaks fade from view, but whatever may betide me,
In memory oft by that wild shore I'll dwell,
Now the hills close thee in, other scenes are before me,
Beautiful Isle of the Eagle farewell......

Now the hills close thee in, other scenes are before me,
Beautiful island of Achill farewell.

credits

from Oile​á​n m'Aislingí / Island of my Dreams, released October 24, 2022
Lyrics/words: Annette Hemphill
Music: Traditional
Musical accompaniment: Caoilte Ó Cuanaigh (Guitar)

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John Twin McNamara

John 'Twin' McNamara is one of Achill’s most important historians, folklorists and collector of songs, poetry and stories associated with Achill and its connections to significant aspects of our local and national cultural heritage. His life has been dedicated to the promotion of Achill and in particular its language, music, and culture. He was the driving force behind the revival of Scoil Acla, ... more

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