Near Banbridge town in the County Down one morning last July Down a Boreen green came a sweet coleen and she smiled as she passed me by She looked so sweet from her two bare feet to the sheen of her nut-brown hair Such a coaxing elf, sure I shook myself, for to see I was really there From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay and from Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the brown coleen that I met in the County Down As she onward sped, sure I scratched my head and I looked with a feeling rare And I says, says I, to a passer-by: Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair? He smiled at me and he says, says he: That's the gem of Irelands crown Young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann she's the star of the County Down From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay and from Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the brown coleen that I met in the County Down At the harvest fair she'll be surely there, so I'll dress in my Sunday clothes With my shoes shone bright and my hat cocked right, for a smile from my nut-brown rose No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke, til my plough is a rust-coloured brown Til a smiling bride by my own fireside, sits the star of the County Down From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay and from Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the brown coleen that I met in the County Down From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay and from Galway to Dublin town No maid I've seen like the brown coleen that I met in the County Down