Song lyrics

I have NO idea why, but all my life I have found this to be one of the most haunting, evocative songs to me, especially with just a violin accompaniment or when sung a cappella:

O Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are callin'
From glen to glen, and down the mountainside,
The summer's gone, the roses all are fallen,
And now 'tis you must go, and I must bide.

But come ye back when spring is in the meadow,
Or when the hills are hushed and white with snow,
Ye'll find me there, in sunshine or in shadow,
O Danny Boy, O Danny Boy, I love you so.

But if ye come, and all the flowers are dyin',
And I am dead, as dead I may well be,
Then you will find the place where I am lyin',
And kneel and say an Ave there for me.

And I will hear, though soft you tread above me,
And there my grave will warmer, softer be,
And you will bend and tell me that you love me,
And I will wait in peace until you come to me.

~ Frederic Edward Weatherly, "Danny Boy"