THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND
Come all ye handsome comely maids that live near Carlow dwelling,
Beware of young men's flattering tongue when love to you they're telling,
Beware of the kind words they say, beware and do not mind them,
For if they were talking till they'd die they'd leave you all behind them.
In Carlow town he lived I own all free from debt and danger,
Till Colonel Reilly listed him to join the Wicklow Rangers,
They dressed him up in scarlet coat and ever tried to bind him,
But still I thought his heart would break for the girl he left behind him.
I was scarcely 18 years of age when I was broken-hearted,
For I'm in love this two long years since from my love I parted,
These maidens wonder why I moan and bid me not to mind him,
That he might have more grief than joy for leaving me behind him.
So now my love is gone from me, I own I do not blame him,
For oftentimes he told to me that he would ne'er deceive me,
But now he's gone across the foam unto some distant island,
But in course of time he may come home to the girl he left behind him.
'Tis not my love I blame to-night all for our separation,
That he went wandering far from home all in a distant nation,
But when he gets his liberty no one shall ever bind him,
He'll see his native land again and the girl he left behind him.