text: "Smaointe...", roughly translated from Irish as "Thoughts...", was originally released as a B-side to the 7" single of "Orinoco Flow" as "Smaoitím... (D' Aodh Agus Do Mháire Uí Dhúgain)", released in 1988. The song refers to the story of a large tsunami destroying the church, and everyone inside, at Magheragallon Beach in Gweedore, where Enya's grandparents are buried. The theme of loss, something that Enya depicted in Watermark and Shepherd Moons, stemmed from her leaving home at age eleven to attend a strict boarding school, which she described as "devastating".
  Release
  Shepherd Moons was released on 4 November 1991 in the United Kingdom; its release in the United States followed on 19 November 1991 by Reprise Records. A promotional box set containing a CD and cassette of the album, plus a 14-page booklet autographed by Roma with her words on each track and lyrics, was released and limited to 1,000 copies.
  The album became a greater chart success than Watermark, reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart for one week for the week ending on 16 November 1991. It spent a total of 110 weeks on the chart. In the United States, it entered the Billboard 200 at number forty-seven, the week of 7 December 1991. It then rose to its peak at seventeen on the week ending 28 March 1992. It was present on the chart for a total of 238 weeks. On the Billboard New Age Albums chart, the album was number one for twenty-nine weeks during its 266-week stay.