Sweet Portaferry

Sweet Portaferry

You may gaze from green mountains across the bright seas
Where wonder and pleasment are taking their ease
You may search the world over from here to Japan
Transported by nature and the glory of man.

But why should men toil foreign lands to explore
When wonder and pleasement are here at their door
And who would go roving through country and town
From sweet Portaferry and the Kingdom of Down.

It lies on a harbour convenient and free
Where the waters of Strangford run into the sea,
To bear on their bosom, the yield of our toil
When farmer and fisherman plough the lake and the soil.

Their bright silver comes in our nets to the strand
Our gold and our glory, are planted by hand,
But who would change beauty for gain or renown
And leave Portaferry and the Kingdom of Down.

Oh, if I were a poor man I'd work on my land
Content with the beauty at every hand
But if I were a rich man, my care to beguile,
I' d fill up my pockets and wander a while.

And what though I'd wander on strange lands or seas,
And think my land middling compared against these,
I know when old age makes a sage of a clown
I'd seek Portaferry and the Kingdom of Down.