When the cuckoo is calling Over wood, land, and valley And the tern and the swallow Flies over our bay Then it's longing I'll be For the land of my father Where Bann and Blackwater Sweep down to Loch Neagh A home I have made In the land of the stranger And it's many's the long years Since I've left Derry gay Still I dream of the blue moon And the glens of old Ireland Where Bann and Blackwater Sweep down to Loch Neagh And it's soon I must start And this is my last journey For my eyes they grow dim And my hair sparse and grey And it's soon I must follow The tern and the swallow Where Bann and Blackwater Sweep down to Loch Neagh I long for to see the Dark waters of Loch Neagh And I long for to gaze On sweet [?] And I long for to follow The tern and the swallow Where Bann and Blackwater Sweep down to Loch Neagh ♪ And when I return to my native land In the spring I will hear the cuckoo sing round Loch Neagh And I'll be out there waiting For the tern and the swallow Where Bann and Blackwater Sweep down to Loch Neagh All I ask is a cairn In the land of my father Where Bann and Blackwater Sweep down to Loch Neagh