Following the Light, photography with Mary: Cuskinny Swan Song

Silent O Moyle

Thomas Moore (1779-1852)

Silent, Oh Moyle, be the roar of thy water,

Break not, ye breezes, your chain of repose;

While murmuring mournfully, Lir's lonely daughter

Tells to the night-star her tale of woes.

When shall the swan, her death-note singing,

Sleep with wings in darkness furl'd?

When shall heav'n its sweet bell ringing,

Call my spirit from this stormy world?

Sadly, Oh Moyle, to thy winter-wave weeping,

Fate bids me languish long ages away;

Yet still in her darkness doth Erin lie sleeping,

Still doth the pure light its dawning delay!

When will that day-star, mildly springing,

Warm our Isle with peace and love?

When shall heav'n, its sweet bell ringing,

Call my spirit to the fields above?

One of Moore's Irish melodies. I remember my mother singing this when we were children. She didn't know all the words but that never got in the way of her singing anything. Mam had a very deep singing voice, and a very strong Donegal accent even after more than half a century living in Cork.

She blamed the cigarettes for deepening her voice. Apparently she sang in the church choir in Donegal as a child and was a beautiful soprano.

I used to think she had a lovely singing voice when she sang at home. She used to sing at mass on a Sunday too, not as part of the choir but as part of the congregation. Her voice was so deep that when she started singing it was like Bagpipes warming up. All the children in the seats in front used to turn around and stare at her. Sometimes they would look at us and snigger. I was mortified, I know i stuck my tongue out at several of them along the way.

I'd give anything to hear her singing now, she died 10 years ago RIP mam x

Silent O Moyle is the song of Fionnuala, a young girl who along with her brothers was turned into a swan by her evil step mother and banished to the lakes of Ireland for 900 years. You can read the story of the Children of Lir at this link if you haven't read it before.

http://irelandofthewelcomes.com/the-children-of-lir/

All the images below were taken at Cuskinny Nature Reserve in Cobh, Co. Cork. Ireland

I took them recently during a break in the rain, we haven't had many of those this winter.