Joe Jencks

I was blessed to tour Ireland in the fall of 2007, and visit my ancestral homelands. I saw the house where my Granddad Kilbride grew up and walked the streets of his hometown Athy, in County Kildare. I stayed with my cousin Donal Murphy, and learned a great deal about my family history. I wrote this for my wife, Lynn, while on that trip. Traditional Irish music has always been an undercurrent in my life, and it was a seamless transition to writing in a style endemic to the land and the people of Ireland. There was something magical about the scent of burning peat, thatch roofs, and the hint of melodies on the wind…

I have come here as a stranger
From across the sea I roam
I have come here as a prodigal child
Who is ready to come home
From the hills of Connemara
To the McGillicuddy Reeks
Oh this verdent land she calls to me
Ever softly does she speak

And I will give to her the song I sing
As so many times before
But the one who hold my truest heart
She lies far from Eireann's shore

Oh their dancing down in Doolin
As the band begin to play
But my thoughts they are a wandering
To a place so far away
To a woman who is waiting
And I own my soul is torn
Between this country I would call my own
And the one where I was born

As I turn toward the Atlantic  
At the setting of the sun
I would have her here beside me now
That our lives might be as one
All our days would know such beauty
And our sorrow be no more
And our love would find fulfillment here
As we stand on Eireann's shore

Then I will give to her the song I sing
As so many times before
But with hearts no longer torn apart
We would stand on Eireann's shore
Hand in hand on Eireann's shore

© 2007 Joe Jencks, Turtle Bear Music ASCAP