From the Grand Forks Daily Herald, May 2, 1914.
The dames of France are fond and free,
And Flemish lips are willing,
And soft the maids of Italy,
And Spanish eyes are thrilling;
Still though I bask beneath their smile,
Their charms all fail to bind me,
And my heart falls back to Erin’s isle,
To the girl I left behind me.
For she’s as fair as Shannon’s side,
And purer than its water,
But she refused to be my bride,
Though many a year I sought her;
Yet, since to France I sail’d away,
Her letters oft remind me,
That I promis’d never to gainsay
The girl I left behind me.
She says, “My own dear love, come home,
My friends are rich and many,
Or else abroad with you I’ll roam,
A soldier stout as any;
If you’ll not come, nor let me go,
I’ll think you have resigned me.”
My heart nigh broke when I answered, “No,”
To the girl I left behind me.
For never shall my true love brave
A life of war and toiling,
And never as a skulking slave
I’ll tread my native soil on;
But were it free, or to be freed,
The battle’s close would find me
To Ireland bound, nor message need
From the girl I left behind me.