Roisin Dubh (Black Rose)

Tell me the legends of long ago When the kings and queens would dance In the realm of the black rose Play me the melodies I want to know So I can teach my children, oh Pray tell me the story of young Cú Chulainn How his eyes were dark his expression sullen And how he'd fight and always won And how they cried when he was fallen Oh tell me the story of the Queen of this land And how her sons died at her own hand And how fools obey commands Oh tell me the legends of long ago Where the mountains of Mourne come down to the sea Will she no come back to me Will she no come back to me Oh Shenandoah I hear you calling Far away you rolling river Roll down the mountain side On down on down, go Lassie go Oh tell me the legends of long ago When the kings and queens would dance In the realms of the black rose Play me the melodies so I might know So I can tell my children, oh My róisín dubh is my one and only true love It was a joy that Joyce brought to me While William Butler waits And Oscar, he's going Wilde Ah sure, Brendan where have you Behan? Looking for a girl with green eyes My dark Rosaleen is my only colleen That Georgie knows Best But Van is the man Starvation once again Drinking whiskey in the jar-o Synge's Playboy of the Western World As Shaw, Sean I was born and reared there Where the Mountains of Mourne come down to the sea Is such a long, long way from Tipperary