Because all night my mind inclines to wander and to rave,
Because the English dogs have made Ireland a green grave,
Because all of Munster's glory is daily trampled down,
I have traveled far to meet you, Valentine Brown.

Because the might of Cashel is withered all away,
And the badger skulks in Brian's house, seeking out his prey,
And the laughing kings are all deprived of scepter and of crown,
I have traveled far to meet you, Valentine Brown.

Because the deer in Ross's wood run no longer free,
And the crows of death are croaking now on top of every tree,
And never a fish is seen to leap where mountain streams come down,
I have traveled far to meet you, Valentine Brown.

Demish ravaged in the west, her good lord gone as well,
Some foreign city has become our refuge and our hell.
Wounds that hurt a poet's soul can rob him of renown:
I have traveled far to meet you, Valentine Brown.