I wish I was in Carrickfergus
Only for nights in Ballygran
I would swim over the deepest ocean
The deepest ocean for my love to find

But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over
And nor have I the wings to fly
If I could find me a lonesome boatman
To ferry me over my love and I

My childhood days bring back sad reflections
Of happy time I spent so long ago
My boyhood friends and my own relations
Have all passed on now like the melted snow

So I'll spend my days in endless roving
Soft is the grass my bed is free
Ah, to be home now in Carrickfergus
On that long road down to the sea

And in Kilkenny it is reported
On marble stone there as black as ink
With gold and silver I would support her
But I'll sing no more now till I get a drink

For I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober
A handsome rover from town to town
Ah but I am sick now my days are numbered
Come all ye young men and lay me down