I walked today on a cold grey shore Where I walked when I was much younger While they built the dunes upon the sand For the dead from the Great Hunger For the dead from the Great Hunger
Although I was a doctor's son I gazed in fear and wonder How they perished from the rageing plague That came in with the Great Hunger That came in with the Great Hunger
When I watched at the age of four In eighteen forty seven The mounds they built upon the shore They seemed to point to heaven They seemed to point to heaven
But the wind and the rain they have worked away Now the dunes are all uneven And the children kicked the sand around And the bones they are revealed then And the bones they are revealed then
They stole our grain as we died in pain To put upon their tables The dying covered the dead with sand And danced while they were able And danced while they were able
While the fiddler played we drank poitin And ate the last of the berries Then knelt and said the Rosary Round the mounds of the dead we'd buried Round the mounds of the dead we'd buried
I saw dark shadows rise up from the sand And dance all around the dunes They danced the rattling dance of he dead To a set of mournful tunes To a set of mournful tunes
A crack of lightening split the sky And the rain on the dunes it poured I left them lying where I shot them down The bailiff and the landlord Then I went for a drink in West Port
I walked today on a cold grey shore Where 1 walked when I was much younger While they built the dunes upon the sand For the dead from the Great Hunger For the dead from the Great Hunger