I bought a handheld Celtic harp,
and tuned ten strings to ear,
plucked a chord then sang it sharp
in that ancient harmony.  

My voice no longer clear
like the air by Ireland’s sea,
and the red had faded from my hair,
no longer a call of the banshee.  

But I remembered with all my heart
the ballad that I sang,
and no mistake could be made
of my Celtic heritage on that day.