An Ion - Goodbye Johnny Dear lyrics

Just twenty years ago today, I grasped my mother's hand She kissed and blessed her only son, going to a foreign land; The neighbours took me from her breast and told her I must go But I could hear my mother's voice, though her words were sweet and low Goodbye, Johnny dear, when you're far away Don't forget your dear old mother far across the sea; Write a letter now and then and send her all you can And don't forget where e'er you roam that you're an Irishman I sailed away from Queenstown, that is the cove of Cork A very pleasant voyage we had and soon we're in New York; I'd plenty of friends to meet me there and work I got next day But with all the hospitality I could hear my mother say Goodbye, Johnny dear, when you're far away Don't forget your dear old mother far across the sea; Write a letter now and then and send her all you can And don't forget where e'er you roam that you're an Irishman One day a letter came to me, it came from Ireland The postmark showed it came from home, it was not my mother's hand; 'Twas father who had wrote to say that she had pa**ed away And just as if from Heaven above I could hear my mother say Goodbye, Johnny dear, when you're far away Don't forget your dear old mother far across the sea; Write a letter now and then and send her all you can And don't forget where e'er you roam that you're an Irishman