Carlow Castle - The Stronghold by the Barrow

Above the meeting waters, where the Barrow bends away,
The old stone keeps the weather of an eight-hundred-year day,
Before the walls were lifted, earth and timber held the ground,
Then Marshal's towers rose over road and river sound.

Four corners watched the crossing, thick walls against the rain,
A hall of fire and timber, a store of wool and grain,
The town grew in its shadow, the boats moved south and north,
And Carlow Castle guarded every road that carried forth.

The river carried memory,
The stone remembered more,
Of hands that built and watched here
Beside the Barrow shore.

Carlow Castle, Carlow Castle,
Stronghold by the Barrow's flow,
Two old towers keep the silence
Of the years they used to know.

Carlow Castle, Carlow Castle,
Where the Burren meets the stream,
Broken stone above the water,
Still awake inside the dream.

The hall received the judges, the kitchen held the flame,
The clerks and royal officers recorded debt and name,
When Ireland's Exchequer travelled from Dublin to this place,
A third floor rose for parchment, seal and measured grace.

Downriver went the harvest, grain and wool towards New Ross,
Upriver came the wine and salt through current, rain and moss,
The castle was a household, a fortress and a crown,
A working heart of government above the growing town.

Carlow Castle, Carlow Castle,
Stronghold by the Barrow's flow,
Two old towers keep the silence
Of the years they used to know.

Carlow Castle, Carlow Castle,
Where the Burren meets the stream,
Broken stone above the water,
Still awake inside the dream.

The frontier years grew harder, and the walls were tried again,
Through rebellion, siege and changing hands, through cannon smoke and rain,
No triumph needs repeating, no old anger needs a flame,
Only courage, fear and sorrow carried quietly in the name.

The Exchequer left for Dublin when the fourteenth century waned,
Yet the stronghold kept its watch while crown and country changed,
Until the guns of Ireton faced the final southern stand,
And another chapter closed beside the river and the land.

Cross-shaped light within the stone,
Open sky through walls alone,
Not a hymn of war or crown,
But mercy falling on the town.

Let the bells beyond the river
Call the living through the day,
While the old walls keep their witness
And the water moves away.

Then one misguided morning brought the powder to the base,
And half the ancient building fell and vanished from the place,
The eastern walls were broken, their stone was cleared away,
But two round towers and western wall remained to meet the day.

The spades returned in later years to read the buried ground,
The timber fort, the kiln and well, the older ditch were found,
Now gardens soften Castle Hill, and town life passes near,
But Carlow Castle still makes eight long centuries appear.

Carlow Castle, Carlow Castle,
Stronghold by the Barrow's flow,
Two old towers keep the silence
Of the years they used to know.

Carlow Castle, Carlow Castle,
Where the Burren meets the stream,
Broken stone above the water,
Still awake inside the dream.

Stone and river, road and rain,
What was broken still remains,
Carlow Castle, quiet and strong,
Keeps the town within its song.

By the meeting waters, the old walls carry on.