A certain pretty cailín óg, I’ll tell you what her name is,
She lives beyond Kilskarragh where the little running steam is
She stole the heart away from me, with fairy chains she bound it,
She smiles on every buachaill in the parish and around it.
But she doesn’t care a thraneen for a poor lone boy.

Ó grá mo chroi mo Róisín, sláinte geal mo stóirín,
She turn all my weary woes to happiness and joy,
With a single word of welcome to a poor lone boy.

I’m not the one to boast about the beauty of my stóirín,
Though if you wander over every hill and glen and boreen,
And even if you travel in the magic steed of Oisín
You’d seek in vain through Érin for a fairer flower than Roisín.
Oh, were’s the use in talking for a poor lone boy.

Ó grá mo chroi mo Róisín, sláinte geal mo stóirín,
She turn all my weary woes to happiness and joy,
With a single word of welcome to a poor lone boy.

Her eyes are like the summer skies, her hair is brown and curling,
Her voice is like the running stream among the sages purling.
When e’er she smiles at all you’d swear ‘tis coaxing you the rogue is,
Put still, her little lips are always asking what a póg is,
But they never whisper fáilte to a poor lone boy.

Ó grá mo chroi mo Róisín, sláinte geal mo stóirín,
She turn all my weary woes to happiness and joy,
With a single word of welcome to a poor lone boy.

I’d step across the running stream that’s lilting like a toorneen,
I’ll meet her and I’ll tell her how I’m pining for mo mhuirnín,
And ‘tis I will have the heart of joy, of joy beyond comparing,
And ‘tis I will be the proudest lad of all the lands in Érin,
If she’d only whisper fáilte to a poor lone boy.

Ó grá mo chroi mo Róisín, sláinte geal mo stóirín,
She turn all my weary woes to happiness and joy,
With a single word of welcome to a poor lone boy.

“This was written by Limerick poet Brian O’Higgins (Brian Banban) (1892-1963) who also composed ‘A Stór Mo Chroi’. It was published in ‘Songs of the Gael’, series three, in 1921. The note there reads:

‘The above song is a pleasant one, full of quiet humour, and should be a great favourite. The writer is one of those who have proved their love to Ireland by their sufferings. Many of his songs are most inspiriting, and all are sound, strong Irish pabulum. I have taken this song by permission from ‘Voices of Banba’. That booklet and a few others by the author—‘At the Hill of the Road’, ‘A Bunch of Wild Flowers’, etc.—should be in every Irish home. Brian O'Higgins carried on most successfully a paper called ‘Irish Fun’ until the ‘Rising’ in 1916, when it ceased publication. It has re-started on its career, 1917. May that career be a long one.’
An account of the poet’s life may be found at http://www.irishidentity.com/extras/gaels/stories/higgins.htm.”
Jim Carroll

Reference:
Songs of the Gael, Series 3, Pádraig Breathnach (ed.), Brown and Nolan 1921.