Embers: Rosleen

Rosleen

                                ROSLEEN
         "She's the darlin' of the parish, she's the pride of
               Inniskillen;
          'Twould make your heart lep up to see her trippin'
               down the glen;
          There's not a lad of life and fame that wouldn't take
               her shillin'
          And inlist inside her service-did ye hear her laughin'
                then?
          Did ye see her with her hand in mine the day that
               Clancy married?
          Ah, darlin', how we footed it-the grass it was so
               green!
          And when the neighbours wandered home, I was the
               guest that tarried,
          An hour plucked from Paradise--come back to me,
               Rosleen!
          Across the seas, beyand the hills, by lovely Inniskillen,
          The rigiment come marchin'--I hear the call once
               more
          Shure, a woman's but a woman--so I took the Sergeant's
               shillin',
          For the pride o' me was hurted--shall I never see
               her more?
          She turned her face away from me, and black as night
               the land became;
          Her eyes were jewels of the sky, the finest iver seen;
          She left me for another lad, he was a lad of life and
               fame,
          And the heart of me was hurted--but there's none
               that's like Rosleen!"

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