I wished I had you in Carrickfergus

Only for nights in Ballygrand

I would swim over the deepest ocean

The deepest ocean to be by your side

But the sea is wide and I can't swim over

And neither have I wings to fly

I wish I could find me a handy boatman

To ferry me over to my love and die

My childhood days bring back sad reflections

Of happy times so long ago

My girlhood friends and my own relations

Have all passed on like the melting snow

So I'll spend my days in endless roving

Soft is the grass and my bed is free

Oh to be home now in Carrickfergus

On the long road down to the salty sea

And in Kilkenny it is reported

On marble stone there black as ink

With gold and silver I did support her

But I'll sing no more till I get a drink

I'm drunk today and I'm rarely sober

A handsome rover from town to town

Oh but I am sick now and my days are numbered

Come all ye young men and lay me down