Adieu Lovely Erin

Adieu lovely Erin, I'm bound for to leave you

May peace be on your daisy-clad hills

In wild foreign lands, I am bound for to praise you

And I'll sing of your sweet, winding rills

My parents, for my welfare, they did their endeavour

As parents they would do for any son

They bound me in my early days to be an engraver

But alas, by that art I'm undone

I set the plates for forging notes and that I'll ne'er deny

Drawn on the Bank of Scotland and that company I defied

They traced me to Belfast all through a hired spy

Which parted me from my Erin the green

When my enemy assailed me, no dagger I drew

He was of a savage temper but with a smile I did subdue

The noble bonds of charity I held all in my view

From my childhood in sweet Erin the green

And it was not for murder that I received my sentence

I ardently loved all mankind

From the naked I clothed, I made the acquaintance

Of friendships sincere and sublime

Belfast, that fair harbour of commerce and pleasure

William Hill, he now bids you farewell

You're the fairest in the north for talent and treasure

And may peace and goodwill with you dwell

And though the cruel ocean between us now does roll

My heart will be as faithful as the needle to the pole

A poor convict I'll remain, my sad spirit to console

Far away from you, my sweet Erin the green