Well I sat in the corner and I tried to drink my whiskey,
I was hiding my face from her gaze across the room.
When she took out a whistle and began to play so sweetly
She played the Kerry Polka and she made a merry tune.

Well I was bewitched by her playing and her beauty,
fell into a trance and then I danced across the floor.
She told me her name and the road up to her cottage,
Then we both rose together and we headed for the door.

Well we stopped into a field by the side of the roadway.
There she gave me her love as the moonlight lit the sky.
Then she showed me her hands and the rings upon her fingers,
And I knew straight away that I had to say goodbye.

Well I tried, and I tried, but I could not forget her,
Her beauty and playing they were way beyond compare.
So I kept going back to the place where I had met her,
But I am sad to tell you boys that she was never there.

Then one morning I awoke with the sunrise,
A knock at the door, it was her husband with a gun.
I crept round the back and escaped through the window,
and I rushed out of town and to a new life I did run.

So come all you young fellows who chance to see this maiden,
in the county of Clare in the town of Ballyvaughan.
If she smiles, as she plays, and she offers you the moonlight,
Check the rings on her fingers before you walk her home.