I wish I was in Carrickfergus, only for nights in Ballygrand* I would swim over the deepest ocean, the deepest ocean for my love to find. But the sea is wide, and I cannot swim over, and neither have I wings to fly If I could find me a handsome boatman to ferry me over to my love and die. My childhood days bring back sad reflections of happy times I spent so long ago My boyhood friends and my own relations have all passed on now like melting snow. But I'll spend my days in endless roaming Soft is the grass, my bed is free. Ah, to be back in Carrickfergus, on that long road down to the salty sea!And in Kilkenny** it is reported there are marble stones as black as ink With gold and silver I would support her But I'll sing no more now till I get a drink. I'm drunk today, and I'm seldom sober, a handsome rover from town to town Ah, but I'm sick now, my days are numbered, so come all ye young men and lay me down!
*So wird allgemein gesungen; aber gemeint ist wohl Ballyagran, ein kleiner Vorort von Carryfergus.
**Die Anspielung durfte ja nicht fehlen. Gemeint ist wohl weniger das Schloß, als vielmehr das Bier gleichen Namens, für das K. bekannt ist.