The Road to Creeslough

The Road to Creeslough
by Sara Dennison (neé Kerfoot)

I
Give me the road to Creeslough
The road that leads to home
Be your's the route for Africa
for Belgium or for Rome
Give me the road ...(illegible)
That winds through ...(illegible)
Sure I know it, every turn and twist
I need no guide or map

II
I'll leave you Boston City great
And Philadelphia grand (?)
Farewell to all the friends I've met
In kindly Yanke land
My thoughts will ever turn to you
When on my native track
But give me the road to Creeslough
...(illegible)...

III
The fairies built a flowery(?) home
Amongst the mountain vales
Where the hand of man could ne'er succeed
Nor nature never fils(?)
They called it Drim the beautiful
McSweeney's fair abode
And when his clans to battle marched,
They trod the Creeslough road

IV
Give me the road to Creeslough boys
Come with me to my friends
And it's there you'll see an imortal spot
Along the patch that wends
There's Kilmacrennan ...(illegible)...
The blood of patriots flowed
Where the Great O'Doherty was slain
Beyond the Creeslough Road

V
O'Donnell too, was crowned hard by
And could the Castle Ards but speak
What a story it could tell
While Muckish in the dim background
Casts shadows over all
To watch the Creeslough Road
...(illegible)... Donegal

VI
Oh give me the road to Creeslough
From Drim to Downings Bay (?)
Be your skies of bright unclouded blue
Or shadowed deep and grey
And when my angel whispers
That my spirit must depart
Oh take my bones by the Creeslough Road
To sleep near Carrigart

July 1935

This poem was transcribed from Sara Kerfoot's letter to Susan Campbell (neé Williams) in Feb 1936. Author not confirmed but may have been Sara herself. Transcription by Seán Dennison