Down By the Sally Gardens
Down by the Sally Gardens, my love and I did meet,
She passed the Sally Gardens, with little snow- white feet,
She bid me, take love easy as the leaves grow on the tree,
But I being young and foolish, with her did not agree.
In a field down by the river my love and I did stand
And on my leaning shoulder, she laid her snow -white hand
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs,
But I being young and foolish, and now am full of tears.
The words for this beautiful old Irish song are from a poem by W.B Yeats, published in 1889. Yeats found inspiration for his poem in a song called “The Rambling Boys of Pleasure” composed in the 18th Century. Yeats’ poem is set to the air of an ancient Irish ballad called “The Maids of Mourne Shore.”
