On Raglan Road

By Patrick Kavanagh

On Raglan Road on an autumn day I saw her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare that I might one day rue;
I saw the danger, yet I passed along the enchanted way,
And I said, let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day.

On Grafton Street in November we tripped lightly along the ledge
Of the deep ravine where can be seen the worth of passion's pledge,
The Queen of Hearts still making tarts and I not making hay -
Oh I loved too much and by such by such is happiness thrown away.

I gave her gifts of the mind I gave her the secret sign that's known
To the artists who have known the true gods of sound and stone
And word and tint without stint for I gave her poems to say.
With her own name there and her own dark hair like clouds over fields of May

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet I see her walking now
Away from me so hurriedly my reason must allow
That I had loved not as I should a creature made of clay -
When the angel woos the clay he'd lose his wings at the dawn of day.

Listen to a MIDI file Here: or a quicker tempo version Here: or an MP3 of the entire song Here:

This is probably one of the best known Irish ballads. It was written as a poem by Patrick Kavanagh, and as the story goes, Kavanagh met Luke Kelly of the Dubliners in a pub and asked to him "sing his song". Luke obliged and sings a remarkable rendition of it - easily the definitive version with others, notably Sinead O'Connor, performing it but not getting the same passion in the song, an ability that defined Luke Kelly so well.
Patrick Kavanagh was born on 21 October 1904 in Inniskeen, County Monaghan. Kavanagh took a liking to works by James Joyce, particularly Ulysses - known to be Kavanagh's favourite book. This fact can be seen in his poetry style. Kavanagh moved to Dublin in 1939 where he fell in love with a woman named Hilda Moriarty.
Kavanagh's yearning for a relationship with this woman is the reason for the poem, he would see her in the streets of Dublin but never managed to enter into a serious relationship with her.
On a poll by the Irish Times a few years back, Patrick Kavanagh came 3rd in the vote for people's favourite Irish poet and poem - with this poem coming 5th.

From:

This song was recorded and popularized by the great Luke Kelly of the Dubliners in the 1960s. The words, written by Paddy Kavanagh, were set to the traditional air 'Fainne Gael an Lae' (The Dawning of the Day). This poem was first published in 1946 under the name "Dark haired Myriam ran away".
Both Ewan McVicar and Arthur Johnstone claim it was Luke Kelly who married the tune to the words. Luke's own account seems to contradict this: Luke told the following story in an interview in 1980: 'I was sitting in a pub in Dublin, The Bailey, and as you know in the old days - it's changed a bit now - it was known as a literary pub, an artistic pub. I happened to be sitting there in the same company with Patrick Kavanagh and one or two other poets, and someone asked him to recite a poem, which he did, and then someone asked me to sing a song which I did. Being in the presence of the great man I was very nervous. Then he leaned over to me and said in that sepulchral voice of his - he could hardly get his voice out, he was very old ... it was just the year before he died - and he said 'You should sing my song,' and I said 'What's that, Mr Kavanagh?' and he said 'Raglan Road''. So he gave me permission. I got permission from the man himself.'
There is a recording of Kavanagh himself singing 'Raglan Road' in the RTE Radio archive. Proof enough that he conceived his verses as a song. The line endings 'at the dawning of the day' are also proof of the air he had in mind.