Susan Graham Pepper - O’Shaughnessy’s Lament

8. O’Shaughnessy’s Lament
(by Aengus Finnan SOCAN, used with permission)

Oh the sun is setting low o’er Cobalt and the mines
And I’ve come here again to touch and read the lines
Of your name here on the stone, no longer flesh and bone
Oh my sweet Rosella May, I miss you dearly

For when I was but a lad, I signed on with the crew
For a life beneath the earth, what more was I to do?
But as the years went by, you’d wait along the path
How I soon lived for your smile and to hear your tender laugh

For we courted long and dear while McCarthy was your name
And when you’d untie your hair, all the flowers were put to shame
So the fellas spruced me up, for the first time in my life
How I felt like I was someone when you became my wife

For you took this hard rock man so poor in grace and charms
And gave to me a world lying in your arms
Soon from the sound of heartbeats, twins the doctors said
But their birth this house left empty and I alone in bed

Oh, we pitmen live in fear of the price that we might pay
To never come back up or see the light of day
But n’er a one did warn me, my life might cave in two
Sacred heart that happened when God from me took you

So I’ll chip away my days deep beneath the ground
Picking at the earth where silver’s to be found
But oh it’s all for not and I’d throw it all away
If I could have you near and to hold you one more day

For the sun is letting low o’er Cobalt and the mines
And I’ve come here again to touch and read the lines
Of your name here on the stone, no longer flesh and bone
Oh my sweet Rosella May, I miss you dearly