Help me O Lord! to lead an honest life –
A holy rather than a happy one
Protect my little children, bless my wife,
And give me strength for tasks yet to be done.

To till these fields where my sires laboured long;
To hold the farm they handed down to me;
(They loved it with love permanent and strong,
And dear to my heart it will ever be).

To labour ‘mid the freshness of the fields;
With comrade birds and butterflies and flowers;
To do my part, trusting to Thee for yields.
Help me O Lord! through the long working hours.

To toil with spade or hoe or scythe or plough;
To plant the little seeds in ready loam;
To feel the cool breeze on my sweating brow; –
And when the work’s all done, to hear Thy “Come”.

MICHAEL MULLIN ‘The Bard of Foremass’
Foremass Lower, Sixmilecross, Co. Tyrone.