Oh! The days of the Kerry dancing, oh! The ring of the piper’s tune,
Oh! For one of those hours of gladness, gone, alas! Like youth, too soon!
When the boys being to gather in the glen of a summer nigh,
And the Kerry piper’s tuning made us long with wild delight.

Chorus
Oh! To think of it, oh! To dream of it, fills my heart with tears;
Oh! The days of the Kerry dancing, oh! The ring of the piper’s tune;
Oh! for one of those hours of gladness, gone, alas! Like youth, too soon.

Refrain
Time goes on and the happy years are dead,
And one by one the merry hearts are fled;
Silent now is the wild and lonely glen,
Where the bright glad laugh will echo ne’er again.

Only dreaming of days gone by, in my heart I hear
Loving voices of old companions, stealing out of the past once more –
And the sound of the dear old music, soft and sweet as in days of yore,
When the boys began to gather in the glen of a summer night,
And the Kerry piper’s tuning made us long with wild delight.

Was there ever a sweeter colleen in the dance than Eily More?
Or a prouder lad than Thady, as he boldly took the floor?
“Lads and lasses to your places, up the middle and down again,”
Ah! The merry-hearted laughter ringing through the happy glen.

I’m lonesome since I crossed the hills and o’er the moor that’s sedgy;
With heavy thoughts my mind is filled, since I have parted with Peggy.
Whene’er I turn to view the place, the tears doth fall and blind me,
When I think on the charming grace of the girl I left behind me.

The hours I remember well when next to see doth move me;
The burning flames in my heart doth tell, since first she owned she loved me.
In search of someone fair and gay, several doth remind me;
I know my darling loves me well, though I left her far behind me.

The bees shall lavish, make no store, and the dove become a ranger;
The fallen water cease to roar, before I’ll ever change her.
Each mutual promise faithfully made by her whom tears doth blind me,
And bless the hour I pass away with the girl I left behind me.

My mind her image full retains, whether asleep or waking;
I hope to see my jewel again, for her my heart is breaking.
But if ever I chance to go that way, and that she has not resigned me,
I’ll reconcile my mind and stay with the girl I left behind me.