Eileen Aroon

I was named for the old Irish song "Eileen Aroon;" my father often played it on his violin for us. Here is a passable English rendition; it is magnificent when sung in the original Gaelic, which I also posted below.

When, like the early rose,
Eileen aroon!
Beauty in childhood blows;
Eileen aroon!
When, like a diadem,
Buds blush around the stem,
Which is the fairest gem?
Eileen aroon!

Youth must with time decay
Eileen aroon!
Beauty must fade away,
Eileen aroon!
Castles are sacked in war,
Chieftains are scattered far,
Truth is a fixèd star,
Eileen aroon!

Handel heard it sung when he was in Ireland and he said he would have traded all his own work to have written the tune of "Eileen Aroon." ("Eibhlín, a riún!" literally means "Evelyn, my secret [love]!")

Le grá dhuit níl radharc am cheann,
Eibhlín a Riún,
Is trácht ort is saidhbhreas liom,
Eibhlín a Riún;
Ó mo mhórdháil ró-ghreidhnmhear thú,
sólás na Soillse's tú,
Ó mo lile thú, mo mheidhir is tú,
mo bhruinneal thú go deimhin.
A's mo chlús dá bhfuil sa choill seo's tú.
As mo chroí 'stigh níl leigheas gan tú,
Eibhlín a Riún.

|: An dtiocfaidh tú nó an bhfanfaidh tú,
Eibhlín a Rún? :|
Tiocfaidh mé is ní fhanfaidh mé,
tiocfaidh mé is ni fhanfaidh mé
Tiocfaidh mé is ní fhanfaidh mé
is ealóidh mé le me stór.

(Artwork by Jessie Marion King)


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