 | Ballads of Irish chivalry |  |
AMONG THE FRAGRANT HAY.
I
Young Johnnie, in the autumn,To Limerick he came,
And none could tell what brought him,
And none could tell his name;
299
That sunny autumn day,
And he told her sweet romances 'mid the new-mown hay.
Then, oh! for fields lighted
By sweet autumn's ray,
When loving vows are plighted
Among the fragrant hay!
II
When ere the next sweet morningYoung Johnnie had fled,
With envy filled and scorning,
The village maidens said:
Oh! they spoke of Bessie Gray,
And they said she'd rue the day
When she heard the sweet romances 'mid the new-mown hay.
Then, oh! for fields lighted
By sweet autumn's ray,
When loving vows are plighted
Among the fragrant hay!
III
Young Johnnie's happy dwellingLay fast by the Lee,
And in manly parts excelling
But few like him you'd see;
And so thought Bessie Gray
Since that lovely autumn day
When she heard the sweet romances 'mid the new-mown hay.
Then oh! for fields lighted
By sweet autumn's ray,
When loving vows are plighted
Among the fragrant hay!
300
IV
Young Johnnie could rememberHis vows and his flame,—
He came in dark December,
And told his kin and name;
And there was a wedding gay,
And the bride was Bessie Gray,
And all from these romances 'mid the new-mown hay.
Then, oh! for fields lighted
By sweet autumn's ray
When loving vows are plighted
Among the fragrant hay!
| Ballads of Irish chivalry | |