A REFUGE FOR POETS WHO WRITE IN THE LYRIC TRADITION,
WITH RHYME AND METER, WITH OR WITHOUT MUSIC
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STAR OF THE COUNTY DOWN
Near Banbridge town in the County Down
One morning last July,
Down a boreen green came a sweet colleen,
And she smiled as she passed me by.
She looked so sweet from her two bare feet
To the sheen of her nut-brown hair.
Such a coaxing elf, sure I shook myself
For to see I was really there.
From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay,
And from Galway to Dublin town,
No maid I’ve seen like the brown colleen
That I met in the County Down.
As she onward sped, sure I scratched my head,
And I looked with a feeling rare,
And I says, says I, to a passerby,
Who’s the maid with the nut-brown hair?
He smiled at me, and he says, says he,
That’s the gem of Ireland’s crown,
Young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann,
She’s the star of the County Down.
From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay,
And from Galway to Dublin town,
No maid I’ve seen like the brown colleen
That I met in the County Down.
At the harvest fair she’ll be surely there,
So I’ll dress in my Sunday clothes,
With my shoes shone bright and my hat cocked right,
For a smile from my nut-brown rose.
No pipe I’ll smoke, no horse I’ll yoke,
Till my plough turns a rust-colored brown,
Till a smiling bride by my own fireside
Sits the star of the County Down.
From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay,
And from Galway to Dublin town,
No maid I’ve seen like the brown colleen
That I met in the County Down.
Traditional Irish
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