The Makem & Spain Brothers: The Tradition Continues
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EILEEN AROON


(tune: Robin Adair by Lady Caroline Keppel)

When, like the dawning day
Eileen Aroon
Love sends his early ray
Eileen Aroon
What makes his dawning glow
Changeless through joy and woe
Only the constant know
Eileen Aroon

Were she no longer true
Eileen Aroon
What would her lover do
Eileen Aroon
Fly with a broken chain
Far o'er the bounding main
Never to love again
Eileen Aroon
Youth must in time decay
Eileen Aroon
Beauty must fade away
Eileen Aroon
Castles are sacked in war
Chieftains are scattered far
Truth is a fixed star
Eileen Aroon

words translated by Gerald Griffin (1803-1840)
from the Irish of Carrol O'Daly (14th Century)