Traditional Irish Blessing (Anonymous)

The words used in A Parting Blessing belong to the anonymous English-language blessing commonly known as May the Road Rise to Meet You. Modern hymnals, folklore collections, and music publishers routinely identify the text as traditional or traditional Irish, but no named author has been securely established. The familiar opening corresponds in sense to the Irish expression "Go n-éirí an bóthar leat," a wish for success on one's road or journey, yet the documentary history of the complete English blessing is much less certain than popular claims of great antiquity sometimes suggest.

For a publication-ready hymn record, the safest attribution is therefore traditional and anonymous. The text should not be assigned to Saint Patrick or to another ancient writer without evidence, nor should a specific medieval or early Gaelic source be claimed unless one can be documented. By the late twentieth century the blessing was well established in English-language oral and ceremonial use, and it has since appeared in multiple hymnal and choral settings.

Its images of road, wind, sun, rain, reunion, and divine keeping make it especially suitable for departures, weddings, graduations, memorial occasions, and worship benedictions. In J. Jerome Williams's setting, the traditional text serves as the literary source for a modern copyrighted choral composition.