Lone Shanakyle Far, far from the isle of the holy and grand Where wild oxen fatten and brave men are banned All lonely and lone in a far distant land Do I wander and pine for poor Éireann
Lonely and sad I roam far from my native home Where the wild waves surging foam, headlands appearing Clouded in silver spray, flashing through heaven's bright ray For thy glory and pride, lovely Éireann
Sweet, sweet Inis Cathaigh, the sacred, the blessed Fit place for a saint or a warrior's rest Your sentinel towers left each storm repressed Your mourning waves wail for my Éireann
There is nothing now left, holy isle, but thy name The ruin of thy glory, thy grandeur, thy fame For foreign laws see thy sadness and pain That now cause thy anguish, my Éireann
Chorus: Lonely and sad I roam far from my island home Where the wild waves surging foam, headlands appearing Clouded in silver spray, flashing through heaven's bright ray For thy glory and pride, lovely Éireann
How dearly I longed for to wander once more To the loved ones I left at my old cabin door My blessings I'd given a thousand times o'er And a prayer and a tear for poor Éireann
Sad, sad is my fate in this weary exile Dark, dark is the night cloud o'er lone Shanakyle Where the murdered sleep silently pile upon pile In the coffinless graves of poor Éireann