Intro: A G D A
Verse 1:
A G D A
My name is Patrick Sheehan, and my years are thirty-four
A G D E
Tipperary is my native place, not far from Galtymore
A G D E
I came of honest parents, but now they’re lying low
A G D A
Though many’s the pleasant days we spent in the Glen of Aherlow
Verse 2:
A G D A
My father died; I closed his eyes outside the cabin door
A G D E
For the landlord and the sheriff too were there the day before
A G D E
And then my loving mother and my sisters three also
A G D A
Were forced to go with broken hearts from the Glen of Aherlow
Verse 3:
A G D A
For three long months, in search of work, I wandered far and near
A G D E
I then went to the poorhouse to see my mother dear
A G D E
The news I heard near broke my heart, but still in all my woe
A G D A
I blessed the friends who made their graves in the Glen of Aherlow
Verse 4:
A G D A
Bereft of home and kith and kin, with plenty all around
A G D E
I starved within my cabin, and slept upon the ground
A G D E
But cruel as my lot was, I never did hardship know
A G D A
’til I joined the English army, far away from Aherlow
Verse 5:
A G D A
‘Rouse up there’, cried the corporal, ‘Ya lazy Irish hound
A G D E
Why don’t you hear the bugle, its call to arms to sound ?’
A G D E
I found I had been dreaming of the days long, long ago
A G D A
And I woke upon Sebastopol, and not in Aherlow
Verse 6:
A G D A
I tried to find my musket, how dark I thought the night
A G D E
O blessed God, it wasn’t dark, it was the broad daylight
A G D E
And when I found that I was blind, my tears began to flow
A G D A
And I longed for even a pauper’s grave in the Glen of Aherlow
Verse 7:
A G D A
A poor neglected mendicant, I wander Dublin’s streets
A G D E
My nine months’ pension it being out, I beg from all I meet
A G D E
As I joined my country’s tyrants, my face I can never show
A G D A
Amongst my dear old neighbors in the Glen of Aherlow.
Verse 8:
A G D A
So Irish youths, dear countrymen, take heed in what I say
A G D E
For if you join the English ranks, you’ll surely rue the day
A G D E
And whenever you’re tempted, a-soldiering to go
A G D A
Remember poor blind Sheehan from the Glen of Aherlow