On Raglan Road by Kavanaugh Paul

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Added on June 6, 2022

On Raglan Road of an autumn day
I saw her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare
That I might one day rue
I saw the danger, and I passed
Along the enchanted way
And I said, “Let grief be a falling leaf
At the dawning of the day”
On Grafton Street in November
We tripped lightly along the ledge
Of a deep ravine where can be seen
The worth of passions pledged
The Queen of Hearts still making tarts
And I not making hay
Oh, I loved too much and by such, by such
Is happiness thrown away
I gave her gifts of the mind
I gave her the secret sign
That’s known to the artists who have known
The true gods of sound and stone
And word and tint without stint
I gave her poems to say
With her own name there and her own dark hair
Like clouds over fields of May
On a quiet street where old ghosts meet
I see her walking now
Away from me so hurriedly
My reason must allow
That I had loved not as I should
A creature made of clay
When the angel woos the clay
He’d lose his wings at the dawn of day


The Humours Of Donnybrook (Ireland) – 1978 Luke Kelly sings Patrick Kavanagh’s Raglan Road accompanied by this friend Al O’Donnell. The song was given to Luke in the Bailey Pub, Dublin in 1966 when Patrick Kavanagh asked Luke to sing my sang, to which Luke enquired, ‘ and what song is that Mr Kavanagh?’ Over the years the song has been covered by Ed Sheeran, Van Morrison, Sinéad O’Connor, Mark Knopfler and Roger Daltrey, to name just a few but most agree that Luke’s version is the definitive.

The et alia admin and editor team of www.visionary.art and the Era of Visions library.

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