The Dear Brown Cow (Drimin Donn Dilis)

Lyrics

[Verse 1] Oh, Drimin Donn Dilis, the landlord has come Like a foul blast of death he has swept o'er our home He has withered our rooftree beneath the cold sky And houseless and homeless, tonight we must lie [Verse 2] My heart it is cold as the white winter's snow My brain is on fire, and my blood's in a glow Oh, Drimin Donn Dilis, 'tis hard to forgive When the robber denies us the right we should live [Verse 3] With my health and my strength, with hard labour and toil I dried the wet marsh and I tilled the harsh soil I moiled thе long day through, from mornin' until evenin' And I thought in my heart I'd a forеtaste of heaven [Verse 4] The summer sun shone around us above and below The beautiful summer that makes the flowers grow Oh, 'tis hard to forget it, and I think I must bear That strangers shall reap the reward of my care [Verse 5] Your limbs they were plumb then, your coat it was silk And never was wanted the mether of milk For freely it came in the calm summer's noon While you munched to the time of the ould milking croon [Verse 6] But they racked and they ground me with tax and with rent Till my heart it was sore and my life-blood was spent And today they have finished and on the wild world With the mocking of fiends from my home was I hurled [Verse 7] I knelt down three times for to utter a prayer But my heart it was seared, and the words were not there Oh, wild were the thoughts through my dizzy head came Like the rushing of wind through a forest of flame [Verse 8] I bid you, old comrade, a long last farewell For the gaunt hand of famine has clutched us too well It severed the master and you, my good cow With a blight on his life and a brand on your brow