Bendemeer's Stream

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Barry Taylor
Information
Lyrics
Thomas Moore (1779-1852) wrote these lyrics for Bendemeer's Stream. Around 1900 Percy French wrote the lyrics by which the tune is better known - The Mountains of Mourne. These words were in Moore's Lalla Rookh Part 1 (1817) for which he was paid 3,000 pounds - a record at the time.

For a complete list of tunes by Thomas Moore at this site see the Contemplator's Short Biography of Thomas Moore.

There's a bower of roses,
by Bendemeer's Stream,
And the nightingale sings
'round it all the day long.
In the time of my childhood
'Twas sweet like a dream,
To sit by the roses
And hear the bird's song.
That bow'r and its music
I ne'er can forget,
But of when alone
In the bloom of the year
I think, "Is the nightingale
singing there yet?"
Are the roses still bright
by the calm Bendemeer?"

No, the roses soon withered
that hung o'er the wave,
But the blossoms were gathered
While freshly they shone,
And the dew was distilled
On the flowers, that gave
All the fragrance of summer -
when summer is gone.
Thus memory draws from delight
ere it dies,
An essence that breathes
of it many a year.
Thus, bright to my soul
as 'twas then to my eyes,
Is that bow'r on the banks
of the calm Bendemeer.
Related Links
From Folk Songs of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales
Second verse From Songs of Ireland
Jerry Silverman
See Bibliography for full information.