THE KERRY DANCE O, the days of the Kerry dancing. O, the ring of the piper's tune! O, for one of those hours of gladness, gone, alas! like our youth too soon; When the boys began to gather in the glen of a summer night, And the Kerry piper's tuning made us long with wild delight, O, to think of it, O, to dream of it, fills my heart with tears. O, the days of the Kerry dancing. O, the ring of the piper's tune! O, for one of those hours of gladness, gone, alas! like our youth too soon. Was there ever a sweeter colleen in the dance than Eily Moore? Or a prouder lad than Thady, as he boldly took the floor? "Lads and lasses to your places; up the middle and down again." Ah! the merry hearted laughter ringing through the happy glen! O, to think of it, O, to dream of it, fills my heart with tears! Time goes on and the happy years are dead, And one by one the merry hearts are fled ; Silent now is the wild and lonely glen. Where the bright glad laugh will echo ne'er again, Only dreaming of days gone by, fills my heart with tears! Loving voices of old companions, stealing out of the past once more, And the sound of the dear old music, soft and sweet as in days of yore, When the boys began to gather in the glen of a summer night, And the Kerry piper's tuning made us long with wild delight, O, to think of it, O, to dream of it, fills my heart with tears! O, the days of the Kerry dancing, O, the ring of the piper's tune! O, for one of those hours of gladness, gone, alas! like our youth too soon. -- James Lyman Molloy (1837-1909)