Kelly's Mountain

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