Remember Doolough
Source: Where The Linnets Sings (2026)
Location: Track 5
You may hear them speak about Mozambique
And of Africa’s famine tide,
Of how drought and greed of which few take heed
Have sapped a continent’s pride.
And while millions cry, ten thousands die,
And our governments take no stand,
But a tale I’ll tell of a similar hell
That happened in our own land.
Early spring in ‘Black ’Forty-seven’
The country was on the rack.
Day and night relentless blight
Had consumed the tattie crop.
And while cattle and grain were exported to Spain
And food lay piled in stores,
In Mayo south and round about
The people they perished in scores.
Crowds were gathered in Louisburgh
Hoping for some relief.
’Twas said that the Poor Law Guardians
Could end their piteous grief.
These gentlemen fine were meeting to dine
In Delphi ten miles away.
Children, women and men, six-hundred strong,
Set out on that fateful day.
Crossing the Glankeen in full flood,
Some fell by the riverside.
And going along the mountain road
Still more collapsed and died.
Exhausted and weak, scarcely able to speak,
They thronged into Delphi town,
And waited en masse for food or a pass
To enter the workhouse grounds.
But after his meal of wine and veal,
A guardian addressed them all.
There was no food here and he greatly feared,
No room within workhouse walls.
They would have to go, hail rain or snow
And to their homes walk back.
Dismayed and afraid, despair in their hearts,
They set out upon the track.
Like harvest sheaves or autumn leaves
They fell dying along the road.
As dark drew in and the snow it came down,
The night it was bitter cold.
Going along the cliff, the wind it blew stiff
Driving on the blinding sleet.
Hundreds were swept into Doolough’s depths,
A horror beyond belief.
Next day relieving officers
Had a terrible sight in store.
With bodies strewn along the route
And littering Doolough shore.
Whole families dead, for want of being fed,
An injustice, a crying shame,
A forgotten sign, to our own time,
When we witness the very same.
For from the Sudan across Africa’s lands
Famine victims they wait in need.
And a country like ours that knows this curse
Must surely take a lead.
Remember that walk, oh remember Doolough,
Let our banners be unfurled,
Against selfish gain and indifference to pain
But for justice throughout our world!