I walked today on the cold grey shore
Where I watched when I was much younger
When they built the dunes upon the sand
For the dead from the great hunger
For the dead from the great hunger

Although I was a doctor's son
I gazed in fear and wonder
As they perished from the raging plague
That came in with the great hunger
That came in with the great hunger

When I watched at the age of four
In eighteen forty seven
The mounds they built upon the shore
They seemed to point to heaven
They seemed to point to heaven

The wind and the rain, they worked their way
The dunes they are all uneven
The children kicked the sand around
And the bones they are revealed then
And the bones they are revealed then

My brothers and my sisters died
My mother only four and twenty
And I alone survived to see
The potatoes growing plenty
The potatoes growing plenty

As we died in vain, they stole our grain
To put upon their tables
The dieing covered the dead with sand
And danced while they were able
And danced while they were able

When the fiddler played we drank poteen
Then ate the last of the berries
Then knelt and said the rosary
'Round the mounds of dead we buried
'Round the mounds of dead we buried

I saw dark shadows rise up from the sand
And dance all around the dunes
They danced the rattling dance of the dead
To a set of mournful tunes
To a set of mournful tunes

A crack of lightning split the sky
The rain on the dunes it poured
I left them lying where I'd shot them down
The bailiff and the landlord
Then I went for a drink in Westport

I walked today on the cold grey shore
Where I watched when I was much younger
When they built the dunes upon the sand
For the dead from the great hunger
For the dead from the great hunger