On a mild summer's evening for soft recreation
I rambled the banks where the Curley streams flow,
Where young men and maids in love's admiration
Encircled the verge where the primroses grow.
The small trout and salmon swim with delectation
As in this sweet water they sport and they play,
Yet are vanished these pleasures, my heart with vexation
Is filled with the thought of sweet Hannah MacKay.

Sweet were the hours spen in love's conversation
With this charming fair one to breathe the fresh air;
She was the object of my adoration
My joy and my comfort, my pride and my care.
Oftimes I roamed from her father's grand dwelling,
And I thought by the Curley for life to reside;
My degree has expelled me to some foreign nation
Which leaves some new lover to make her his bride.

Farewell Artikelly where I was excited,
Likewise unto Newton, where steam-engines fly;
If I could return I might well be delighted,
With this pretty fair maiden to live and to die.
When I sail down Lough Foyle to Columbia's nation
I'll think of that bower where so oft I did stray,
And have a deep sigh for that sweet habitation
When I think of that bonny lass, Hannah MacKay.

Transcribed 6/23/00 by T. M. Carlsen
Notes from transcriber: punctuation as in original