The Star of the County Down
H. Hughes
Near to Banbridge town in the County Down
On a morning in July,
Down a boreen green came a sweet colleen
And she smiled as she passed me by.
O she looked so neat from her two white feet
To the sheen of her nut-brown hair.
Such a coaxin' elf, I'd to shake myself
To make sure I was really there.
O 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 I scratched my head
And I gazed with a feelin' quare.
There I said, says I, to a passer-by,
"Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair?"
Oh! he smiled at me and with pride 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.
And I'll try sheep's eyes and deludtherin lies
On the heart of the nut-brown Rose.
No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke,
Tho' my plough with rust turn brown,
Till a smiling bride by my own fireside
Sits the star of the County Down.
O 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.