I wished I had you in Carrickfergus Only for nights in Ballygrand I would swim over the deepest ocean The deepest ocean to be by your side But the sea is wide and I can't swim over And neither have I wings to fly I wish I could find me a handy boatman To ferry me over to my love and die My childhood days bring back sad reflections Of happy times so long ago My girlhood friends and my own relations Have all passed on like the melting snow So I'll spend my days in endless roving Soft is the grass and my bed is free Oh, to be home now in Carrickfergus On the long road down to the salty sea And in Kilkenny it is reported On marble stone there black as ink With gold and silver I did support her But I'll sing no more till I get a drink I'm drunk today and I'm rarely sober A handsome rover from town to town Oh, but I am sick now and my days are numbered Come all ye young men and lay me down