| |
| WHEN first I saw sweet Peggy, | |
| ’T was on a market day: | |
| A low-backed car she drove, and sat | |
| Upon a truss of hay; | |
| And when that hay was blooming grass | 5 |
| And decked with flowers of spring | |
| No flower was there that could compare | |
| With the blooming girl I sing. | |
| As she sat in the low-backed car, | |
| The man at the turnpike bar | 10 |
| Never asked for the toll, | |
| But just rubbed his ould poll, | |
| And looked after the low-backed car. | |
| |
| In battle’s wild commotion, | |
| The proud and mighty Mars | 15 |
| With hostile scythes demands his tithes | |
| Of death in warlike cars; | |
| While Peggy, peaceful goddess, | |
| Has darts in her bright eye, | |
| That knock men down in the market town, | 20 |
| As right and left they fly; | |
| While she sits in her low-backed car, | |
| Than battle more dangerous far,— | |
| For the doctor’s art | |
| Cannot cure the heart | 25 |
| That is hit from that low-backed car. | |
| |
| Sweet Peggy round her car, sir, | |
| Has strings of ducks and geese, | |
| But the scores of hearts she slaughters | |
| By far outnumber these; | 30 |
| While she among her poultry sits, | |
| Just like a turtle-dove, | |
| Well worth the cage, I do engage, | |
| Of the blooming god of Love! | |
| While she sits in the low-backed car, | 35 |
| The lovers come near and far, | |
| And envy the chicken | |
| That Peggy is pickin’, | |
| As she sits in the low-backed car. | |
| |
| O, I ’d rather own that car, sir, | 40 |
| With Peggy by my side, | |
| Than a coach and four, and gold galore. | |
| And a lady for my bride; | |
| For a lady would sit forninst me, | |
| On a cushion made with taste,— | 45 |
| While Peggy would sit beside me, | |
| With my arm around her waist, | |
| While we drove in the low-backed car, | |
| To be married by Father Mahar; | |
| O, my heart would beat high | 50 |
| At her glance and her sigh,— | |
| Though it beat in a low-backed car! | |
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