The Meeting of the Waters

 The Meeting of the Waters is a wonderful song that conjures up a sense of warmth and friendship and links them to a beautiful location.

 It was written by Thomas Moore, one of the greatest Irish poets and songwriters of all time.

 Moore wrote numerous songs which have become Irish classics such as The Minstrel Boy, The Last Rose of Summer, and Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms.

Thomas Moore Irish songwriter (National Portrait Gallery) wrote many Irish folk songs and ballads

Thomas Moore

Moore wrote the lyrics to The Meeting of the Waters in 1807 and it was later set to an old Irish melody with the rather curious title, The Old Head of Dennis.

 The Meeting of the Waters is the name of a well known beauty spot in the Vale of Avoca in Co Wicklow in Ireland.

As the name suggests, it’s the place where two rivers – the Avonmore and the Avonbeg – meet and flow into each other and form the River Avoca.

It’s not hard to see why Moore was enchanted by the scene and felt inspired to write his song. It was, and still remains, beautiful and idyllic.

However, it’s not just the natural beauty of the scene that gives the song its power and its appeal; it’s the evocation of love and friendship.

To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

There is not in this wide world a valley so sweet

As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet,

Oh! the last rays of feeling and life must depart

Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart.

Ere the [D]bloom of that [G]valley shall fade my heart.

 

Yet it was not that Nature had shed o’er the scene

Her purest of crystal and brightest of green

‘Twas not her soft magic of streamlet or hill

Oh! no, it was something more exquisite still.

 

‘Twas that friends, the beloved of my bosom were near

Who made every dear scene of enchantment more dear

And who felt that the best charms of nature improve

When we see them reflected from looks that we love.

 

Sweet Vale of Avoca! how calm could I rest,

In thy bosom of shade, with the friends I love best

Where the storms that we feel in this cold world should cease

And our hearts, like thy waters, be mingled in peace.