Eileen Aroon

When, like the early rose,
Eileen Aroon !
Beauty in childhood blows,
Eileen Aroon !
When, like a diadem,
Buds blush around the stem,
Which is the fairest gem?
Eileen Aroon !

Is it the laughing eye,
Eileen Aroon!
Is it the timid sigh,
Eileen Aroon !
Is it the tender tone,
Soft as the stringed harp's moan ?
O it is truth alone,
Eileen Aroon !

When, like the rising day,
Eileen Aroon !
Love sends his early ray,
Eileen Aroon !
What makes his dawning glow,
Changeless through joy or woe ?
Only the constant know —
Eileen Aroon!

I know a valley fair,
Eileen Aroon !
I knew a cottage there,
Eileen Aroon !
Far in that valley's shade
I knew a gentle maid,
Flower of a hazel glade,
Eileen Aroon !

Who in the song so sweet ?
Eileen Aroon !
Who in the dance so fleet ?
Eileen Aroon !
Dear were her charms to me,
Dearer her laughter free,
Dearest her constancy,
Eileen Aroon !

Were she no longer true,
Eileen Aroon !
What should her lover do ?
Eileen Aroon !
Fly with his broken chain
Far o'er the sounding main,
Never to love again,
Eileen Aroon !

Youth must with time decay,
Eileen Aroon !
Beauty must fade away,
Eileen Aroon !
Castles are sacked in war,
Chieftains are scattered far,
Truth is a fixed star,
Eileen Aroon !