Amhrán na Leabhar

The Kerry poet and hedge-schoolmaster Tomás Rua Ó Súilleabháin (1785–1848) wrote this song after a real disaster. Moving to a new post at Portmagee, he sent his treasured library of leather-bound books by boat from Derrynane toward Valentia Harbour while he travelled by road; the boat struck a rock and was lost, and the books went down with it. His response runs to eleven verses and is known equally as "Cuan Bhéil Inse" — Valentia Harbour — while the title itself means "the song of the books." The melody has long since outgrown the words to become a favourite slow air, popular among pipers: Séamus Ennis recorded it, and Conal Ó Gráda plays it under the "Cuan Bhéil Inse" title on Cnoc Buí.