Some poets sing of a noble king All of a sweetheart fair Some tell a tale of ships that sail With treasures rich and rare But my humble pen still drifts again To the scenes of long ago Across the sea to the Benedy And the winding river Roe
Right well do I remember now Those happy childhood days And the times I had, when just a lad On Carn's lovely Braes And when my mind is thus inclined No other joys I know For my heart remains on the verdant plains By the winding river Roe
Benbradagh's crown o'er Dungiven Town Is still within my view And the Benedy Glen I worshipped then Still lives in memory too The beautiful scene of Cashel Green Still haunts where' er I go And in all my dreams I see it seems The winding river Roe
If fortune smiles on me a while I'll cross the sea again And all these years of toil and tears Will be forgotten then And when at last my life has passed Contentedly I'll go Across the sea to the Benedy And the winding river Roe