A quite familiar theme amongst traditional songs in the 19th and early 20th centuries was the praise of a loved one who has fought against oppression and been slain, deported or driven into exile. In this quite typical example, the young lady is lamenting for her lover, ‘a youth undaunted of courage and noble blood’, who 'for the cause of Ireland on the battlefield he stood.’ She tells how even nature has been transfixed by the death of the young soldier ‘the gentle thrush forsakes the bush and the blackbird hovers low’. This idea is found in many other songs also - see for example Seán O Boyle’s note on the ‘Stupefaction of Nature’ with reference to The Boys of Mullaghbawn in The Irish Song Tradition. The references to Lough Erne and to Enniskillen, place the song once again in County Fermanagh.