I Planted a Garden

I planted a garden of the laurel so fine
In hopes to preserve it for a true love of mine;
By some treason or storm the roots did decay
And I'm left here forlorn by my darling's delay.

This garden's gone wild for the want of good seed;
There's naught growing in it but the outlandish weed,
Some nettles and briars and shrubs of each kind;
Search this garden all over, not a true plant you'll find.

In one of these gardens a violet does spring,
'Tis preserved by a Goddess for the crown of a Kink;
It bloom in all seasons and 'tis hard to be seen;
There's none fit to wear it but a Prince or a Queen.

I'll send for a gardener to France or to Spain,
That will cultivate these gardens and sow the true grain;
That will banish these nettles and wild weds away:
Bring a total destruction on them, night and day.

This garden's invaded this many a year,
By hundreds and thousands of the outlandish deer,
With their horns extending they have overgrown;
They thought to make Ireland forever their own.

I'll send for a huntsman that will soon arrive,
With a stout pack of beagles to hunt and to drive,
Over highlands and lowlands, through cold frost and snow,
No shelter to shield them wherever they go

Now to conclude and to finish my song,
May the lord send so hayro and that before long;
May the lord send some hayro, of fame and renown;
We'll send George to Hanover and O'Connell we'll crown.