Down by the Salley Gardens

by **Madra Rua** Fri Aug 13, 2010 1:44 pm

It was down by the Salley Gardens, my love and I did meet.
She crossed the Salley Gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree,
But I was young and foolish, and with her did not agree.

In a field down by the river, my love and I did stand
And on my leaning shoulder, she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

It was down by the Salley Gardens, my love and I did meet.
She crossed the Salley Gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree,
But I was young and foolish, and with her did not agree.

I've always loved the tune of this song, but the lyrics always left me just a wee bit confused. What the heck are Salley Gardens? Somebody named Salley who owned the gardens? A corruption of meaning from some Irish word? I didn't understand. So I did some research.

The words of this song were written by W.B. Yeats in 1889, in a poem entitled "An Old Song Re-Sung". Yeats indicated in a note that it was "an attempt to reconstruct an old song from three lines imperfectly remembered by an old peasant woman in the village of Ballisodare, Sligo, who often sings them to herself." The poem was set to music in 1909.

And now, why Salley Gardens? Well, it turns out that "Salley" IS an English corruption of an Irish word. "Saileach" in Irish means willow, which is a tree of the genus Salix. In some parts of Ireland willows are known as "salleys" or "salley trees".

Willow was an important crop as its branches were used to thatch roofs and to make baskets used all around the house and farm. Today willow is still harvested to make cricket bats.