O’ harper gray, sing not for me
Your songs of glee and gladness;
But strike your harp-strings mournfully,
And sing me a song of sadness;
Gay music seems with its mirth to taunt
And mock my misery;
Music of sorrow soothes sorrow best –
Sad songs are the songs for me.

Sing a song of exiles tempest-tost;
Or true-love’s tragic story;
Or of patriots who fought and lost,
But whose names live on in glory.
Sing of fond dreams and high hopes laid low
By the frost of penury;
The song of mourning suits mourners best –
Sad songs are the songs for me.

Sweeter to me than the larks June song
Is the small voice of the robin,
That sits and sings on a lonely grave
While winter winds go sobbin’
October’s dirge for the dead brown leaves,
Or the sad song of the sea –
Such songs of mourning suit mourners best –
Sad songs are the songs for me.

O’ sing of the sorrows of the Gael –
The sorrows which I can share in;
And draw from your harp’s sweet-sounding strings
Pathetic airs of Eirinn.
For I’m a Gael, with a sad, sad heart;
So sing not your songs of glee;
Music of sorrow soothes sorrow best –
Sad songs are the songs for me.

Michael Mullin ‘The Bard of Foremass’
Foremass Lower, Sixmilecross, Co Tyrone.