It was early, early in the spring,
The birds did whistle and sweetly sing,
Changing their notes all from tree to tree,
And the song they sang was ‘Old Ireland Free’.
It was early, early last Tuesday night,
The Yeoman cavalry gave me the fright;
The Yeoman cavalry was my downfall
And taken was I by Lord Cornwall.
It was in the guard house that I was laid
And in the parlor that I was tried;
My sentence passed and my courage low
As to Duncannon town I was forced to go.
As I was going up Wexford Street
My own first cousin I chanced to meet;
My own first cousin did me betray,
And for one bare guinea swore my life away.
As I was passing my father’s door
My brother William stood in the door,
My aged father stood there before
And my own dear mother her hair she tore.
As I was going up Wexford Hill,
Oh who would blame me to cry my fill?
I looked behind and I looked before,
And my ageing mother I could ne’er see more.
As I was standing on the scaffold high,
My own dear father was standing nigh;
My aged father did me deny,
And the name he gave me was ‘The Croppy Boy’.
‘Twas in old Ireland this young man died,
And in Dungannon town his body was laid;
Now to all good people that do pass by
Pray “The Lord have mercy on the Croppy Boy”.