lyrics to The Board of Bog Oak

I'd carry you without a cow or the least dowry,
And bed you on a dewy morning at first light,
Alas that you and I, my precious one,
Are not in Black Cashel with a board of bog-oak as our bed.
A fair-haired woman I shall not praise or find fault with,
A black-haired woman I would never take as wife,
I wouldn't desire the churl's daughter, though well off,
But marry my beloved, the treasure of my heart.
I would read books in Gaelic or in dialects hard to construe
And after that take out my pen and write,
I would swim Lock Eirne, backwards, And all for the love of a woman.
Do not think because I'm a peasant that I'm lowly,
Do not think I was found in yonder ditch,
Lie with me for a month and you will see
That from top to toe I'm a gentleman.