O’Sullivan’s Return — A Ballad of Homecoming and Tragedy
O’Sullivan’s Return is one of the most powerful narrative ballads in the Irish tradition — a song that begins in hope and ends in heartbreak.
It tells of a chieftain returning to his ancestral home in Beara, West Cork, after long years in exile. As his ship draws near the coast, he looks toward his castle with tears in his eyes, dreaming of reunion with family, clan, and country.
The early verses are filled with emotion and anticipation. O’Sullivan imagines the joyful welcome awaiting him: banners shaking in his great hall, the clasp of loyal hands, and the sound of his people’s cry — “O’Sullivan abú!” — echoing across the shore.
He envisions not only homecoming, but freedom: Ireland rising once again, the Norman oppressors driven out, and Desmond and all Éire restored.
But the sea, so calm at day’s end, turns violent as darkness falls. A sudden storm rises — almost as if the wind itself heard his proud vow. The ship is smashed against the rocks of Adrigole Bay, and the chieftain who dreamed of liberation is lost to the waves.
From Bantry to Glengarriff, the cry of mourning spreads:
“Is it thus that you return?”
The ballad captures the twin soul of Ireland — courage and sorrow intertwined. It reminds us how often Irish hopes have been dashed upon the rocks of fate, yet also how those hopes never truly die. In O’Sullivan’s dream of freedom, even as his ship sinks, the spirit of Beara and of Ireland endures forever — proud, defiant, and unbroken.
O'Sullivan has come
Within sight of his home,
He had left it long years ago;
The tears are in his eyes,
And he prays the wind to rise,
As he looks tow'rds his castle from the prow, from the prow
As he looks towards his castle from the prow.
II.
For the day had been calm,
And slow the good ship swam,
And the evening gun had been fir'd;
He knows the hearts beat wild
Of mother, wife, and child,
And of clans who to see him long desired, long desired,
And of clans who to see him long desired.
III
Of the tender ones the clasp--
Of the gallant ones the grasp--
He thinks, until his tears fall warm:
And full seems his wide hall,
With friends from wall to wall,
Where their welcome shakes the banners, like a storm, like a storm,
Where their welcome shakes the banners like a storm.
IV
Then he sees another scene---
Norman churls on the green---
"O'Sullivan aboo!" is the cry;
For filled is his ship's hold
With arms and Spanish gold,
And he sees the snake-twined spear wave on high, wave on high;
And he sees the snake-twined spear wave on high.
V
"Finghín's race shall be freed
From the Norman's cruel breed---
My sires freed Bearra once before,
When the Barnwells were strewn
On the fields, like hay in June,
And but one of them escaped from our shore, from our shore
And but one of them escaped from our shore."
VI
And, warming in his dream,
He floats on victory's stream,
Till Desmond---till all Erin is free!
Then, how calmly he'd go down,
Full of years and of renown,
To his grave near that castle by the sea, by the sea,
To his grave near that castle by the sea!
VII
But the wind heard his word,
As though he were its lord,
And the ship is dash'd up the Bay.
Alas! for that proud barque,
The night has fallen dark,
'Tis too late to Adragool to bear away, bear away,
'Tis too late to Adragool to bear away.
VIII
Black and rough was the rock,
And terrible the shock,
As the good ship crashed asunder;
And bitter was the cry,
And the sea ran mountains high,
And the wind was as loud as the thunder, the thunder;
And the wind was as loud as the thunder.
IX
There's woe in Bearra,
There's woe in Glengarragh,
And from Bantry unto Dunkerron,
All Desmond hears their grief,
And wails above their chief---
"Is it thus, is it thus, that you return, you return---
Is it thus, is it thus , that you return?"
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