This lament from Donegal is from the "Penal Times" when laws were passed to ensure that Catholics could not advance in life. Many of the priests were banished and threatened with execution for high treason if they returned. Those who were left were often driven underground and some became converts to the Protestant Church. It is said that this lament was composed by the mother of one Father O Donnell in 1739 when her son left the Catholic Church to become a Protestant clergyman. FILL FILL A RUN O (Return, return my dear) Return, return, my dear. Return my dear, and don't leave me Return to me, my darling and my dear And you will see the glory if you return I walked near and far I was born in Mota Ghrainn Oige And I have seen no wonder yet to compare with Father O'Donnell becoming a minister Return, return, my dear, Return my dear, and don't leave me Return to me, my darling and my dear And you will see the glory if you return You renounced Peter and Paul For the sake of gold and silver; You renounced the Queen of Glory And you began wearing the coat of the minister Return, return, my dear, Return my dear, and don't leave me If you return today or ever Return in the order that you were trained in -- Translation by Eamonn O Donaill