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Liam's London Diary
The Rose of Mooncoin
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How sweet ?tis to roam by the sunny Suir stream
And to hear the dove coo ?neath the morning sunbeam
Where the thrush and the robin their sweet notes entwine
On the banks of the Suir that flows down by Mooncoin |
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I was sitting in the library room of the Hammersmith Irish Centre when Paddy Hickey?s daughter arrived upset, shocked yet purposeful. Her father had recently dropped dead from a heart attack at a small Irish restaurant where he worked part-time and she was helping with the funeral arrangements.
Her specific request was for the words of the Rose of Mooncoin and by a bit of good fortune I was able to find a book with the words and music of this Kilkenny ballad included. She told me how her father had never forgotten his roots in Ireland and that he had regaled his children with songs and stories of his life and culture before he emigrated like so many others to England. It was sacrosanct to Paddy Hickey that he retained this memory of his home in Urlingford, Co Kilkenny, and these feelings for Ireland were passed on and cherished by his children.
Chorus
Flow on, lovely river, flow gently along
By your waters so sweet sings the lark?s merry song
On your green banks I wander where first I did join
With you, lovely Molly, the Rose of Mooncoin.
The funeral mass was to be held at St. Augustines on the Fulham Palace Road and I decided to attend to pay my respects to Paddy, who I was coming to understand and respect. The family had engaged an Irish tenor and as the coffin was being brought into the church the singer burst forth with a rendering of the Rose of Mooncoin. It raised the emotions of all the congregation for the coffin was draped with the black and amber flag, the colours of Kilkenny, and a beautiful wreath was made up of two crossed hurleys and sliotar (small leather hurling ball) to denote the importance of hurling in Kilkenny; the all consuming county game.
Oh! Molly, dear Molly, it breaks my fond heart
To know that we two for ever must part.
I?ll think of you, Molly, while sun and moon shine,
On the banks of the Suir that flows down by Mooncoin.
As the music from the organ and tenor filled each niche and cranny of the church many of us were moved to that quiet sad reflection which is so much a part of being a Celt.. We were proud that one of our countrymen was being accorded a send off and blessing in a such a thoughtful and suitable manner and our hearts rose with the music and we were glad that he was now at peace; and we were at peace with him. There were many Irish in the large congregation and at the back of the church red faced, high cheek boned, men stood with open necked white shirts and held their mighty hands in gentle clasp to control their feelings which were galloping away to the meadows and hills of Ireland.
She has sailed far away o?er the dark rolling foam,
Far away from the hills of her dear Irish home,
Where the fisherman sports with his small boat and line,
By the banks of the Suir that flows down by Mooncoin.
I remember a similar funeral mass at St. Augustines some years ago when Fr Jim Kiely, who had contributed so much to the Hammersmith Irish Centre, was in church for his last farewell. He was a Waterford man next door to Kilkenny, a hurling stalwart who shared an ardent support for Queens Park Rangers. The Irish community in Hammersmith and well beyond turned out for his funeral too and the emotions rose, shimmered and cascaded in tears as his friends and family remembered his ways and successes and foibles. The Irish are well connected in Hammersmith and they know how to look after their own and when its time to move on they know how to say farewell, shake hands and carry on with their loss with proud memories of those now gone to that eternal Ireland always living in Gaelic hearts.
Then here?s to the Suir with its valleys so fair
As oftimes we wandered in the cool morning air,
Where the roses are blooming and lilies entwine,
On the banks of the Suir that flow down by Mooncoin.
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