Of happy days spent so long ago
I wish I could find me a handy boatman
With gold and silver he did support me
Come all you young lads and lay me down
On the long road down to the salty sea
And in Kilkenny it is reported
And neither have I wings to fly
These childhood places bring sad reflections
Oh, but I am sick now and my days are numbered
As I roam on from town to town
I would swim over the deepest ocean
But the sea is wide and I can’t swim over
Oh, to be home now in Carrickfergus
The deepest ocean to be by your side
My girlhood friends and my own relations
Soft is the grass and my bed is free
But I’ll sing no more now till I've had a drink
On marble stone as black as ink
Now, I spend my days in endless roving
To ferry me over to my love and die
Have all passed on like the melting snow
Well, I’m drunk today and I’m rarely sober
