Carrickfergus

(album: Twice Told Tales - 2015)

I wish I was in Carrickfergus
Only for nights in Ballygrand
I would swim over the deepest ocean
Only to be there, to be by your side

But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over
And neither have I the wings to fly
I wish I had a handsome boatsman
To ferry me over to my love and die

My childhood days bring back sad reflections
Of happy days spent so long ago
My boyhood friends and my own relations
Have all passed on now like a melting of snow

So I'll spend my days in endless roaming
Soft is the grass, and my bed is free
Ah, to be home now in Carrickfergus
On that long road down to the salty sea

And in Kilkenny it is reported
On marble stone there as black as ink
With gold and silver I did support her
But I'll sing no more now til I get a drink

And I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober
A handsome rover from town to town
Oh but I'm sick now and my days are numbered
Come all me young men and lay me down

I wish I had you in Carrickfergus
Only for nights in Ballygrand
I would swim over the deepest ocean
Only to be there, to be by your side