If I could only fly
If I could build a bridge
I'd carry you my love
Across this barren ridge
If there were just some way
I'd pull a carriage through the snow
Take you over Kelly's Mountain to the village there below
And no one would ever know
Oh, the snow was high again in the year of 1910
When I rode over Kelly's top from Lake Bras d'Or
O'er the mountain I had come, without rapier, without gun
To fetch my father's order from the St. Anne's Store
As I purchased my supplies, a pretty maiden caught my eye
Her beauty shone upon me like the sun
As my heart melted away, I heard somebody say
"That is the daughter fair of Hugh McGowan"
Well, she knew she'd caught my eye and she smiled as she walked by
Saying "Meet me when the stars come out tonight
"On the highroad I will wait, by old Don Campbell's gate
"And we'll sing a song of love there in the moonlight"
If I could only fly
If I could build a bridge
I'd carry you my love
Across this barren ridge
If there were just some way
I'd pull a carriage through the snow
Take you over Kelly's Mountain to the village there below
And no one would ever know
I knew McGowan was a man with a very heavy hand
And his daughter was the meaning to his life
All her suitors, they had come to the wrong end of his gun
As long as he was living she'd be no man's wife
But I met her 'neath the stars and I took her in my arms
And she said "Please take me with you when you go
"Beneath my father's cruel hand no longer I can stand
"I'll leave with you and he will never know"
If I could only fly
If I could build a bridge
I'd carry you my love
Across this barren ridge
If there were just some way
I'd pull a carriage through the snow
Take you over Kelly's Mountain to the village there below
And no one would ever know
We were halfway up the hill when a gunshot broke the still
And I felt the pain burn deep within my side
She said "My God, we have to run, my father has a gun
"And he'll never let you take me as your bride!"
In my pain I slipped and fell and it wasn't hard to tell
That McGowan cursed my soul not far behind
I pulled her sovereign to my breast, saying "Here I've come to rest
"But there's something that I wish before I'm dyin'
"If you could only fly
"If you could build a bridge
"You carry me, my love
"Across this barren ridge
"Please tell my father why
"You had to bury me in the snow
"Near the top of Kelly's Mountain, where the winds forever blow
"Or no one will ever know
"Near the top of Kelly's Mountain, where the winds forever blow
"Or no one will ever know!"