When the cuckoo is calling
Over wood, land, and valley
And the tern and the swallow
Flies over our bay
Then it's longing I'll be
For the land of my father
Where Bann and Blackwater
Sweep down to Loch Neagh
A home I have made
In the land of the stranger
And it's many's the long years
Since I've left Derry Quay
Still I dream of the blue moon
And the glens of old Ireland
Where Bann and Blackwater
Sweep down to Loch Neagh
And it's soon I must start
And this is my last journey
For my eyes they grow dim
And my hair sparse and grey
And it's soon I must follow
The tern and the swallow
Where Bann and Blackwater
Sweep down to Loch Neagh
I long for to see the
Dark waters of Loch Neagh
And I long for to gaze
On Slieve Gullion Ring
And I long for to follow
The tern and the swallow
Where Bann and Blackwater
Sweep down to Loch Neagh
And when I return to my native land
In the spring I will hear the cuckoo sing round Loch Neagh
And I'll be out there waiting
For the tern and the swallow
Where Bann and Blackwater
Sweep down to Loch Neagh
All I ask is a cairn
In the land of my father
Where Bann and Blackwater
Sweep down to Loch Neagh
