The Old Bog Road

My feet are here on Broadway
This blessed harvest morn
But oh! the ache that's in my heart
For the spot where I was born
My weary hands are blistered
Through work in cold and heat!
And oh! to swing a scythe once more
Through a field of Irish wheat
Had I the chance to wander back
Or own a king's abode
I'd sooner see the hawthorn tree
By the Old Bog Road

When I was young and restless
My mind was ill at ease
Through dreaming of America
And the gold beyond the seas
Oh, sorrow rake their money
'Tis hard to find the same
And what's the world to any man
If no one speaks his name
I've had my day and here I am
A-building bricks per load
A long three thousand miles away
From the Old Bog Road

My mother died last springtime
When Erin's fields were green
The neighbours said her waking
Was the finest ever seen
There were snowdrops and primroses
Piled high above her bed
And Ferns Church was crowded
When her funeral Mass was read
And here was I on Broadway
A-building bricks per load
When they carried out her coffin
Down the old Bog Road

There was a decent girl at home
Who used to walk with me
Her eyes were soft and sorrowful
Like moonlight o'er the sea
Her name was Mary Dwyer
But that was long ago
The ways of God are wiser
Than the things that man might know
She died the day I left her
A-building bricks per load
I'd best forget the days I've spent
On the old Bog Road

Ah! Life's a weary puzzle
Past finding out by man
I'll take the day for what it's worth
And do the best I can
Since no one cares a rush for me
What need is there to moan
I'll go my way and draw my pay
And smoke my pipe alone
Each human heart must bear its grief
Though bitter be the 'bode
So God be with you, Ireland
And the Old Bog Road