The Road to Ballybay

“Is this the road to Ballybay?”
Sez I to Miss Magee;
“You’re leavin’ it behind you”
Sez Maryanne to me.

So I turned and walked beside her,
And ‘tis only fair to say
It was very pleasant walkin’
On the road to Ballybay.

Ballybay, Ballybay,
‘Twas a dark and winthry day,
But the sun was surely shinin’
On the road to Ballybay.

“Is this the road to fame and wealth?”
Sez I to Miss Magee;
“Ye’ve got the brains, ye’ve got the health,”
“But still want a comrade
To praise me an’ to blame,
An’ keep me from the traps hat’s laid
Upon the road to fame.”

Ballybay, Ballybay,
No man could go asthray
With a guide like her beside him
On the road to Ballybay.

“Is this the road to Paradise?”
Sez I to Miss Magee;
I’m thinkin’ that it might be,”
Sez Maryanne to me.

Oh, I saw the love-light leppin’
In a pair of roguish eyes,
An’ I knew we two were steppin’
on the road to Paradise.

Ballybay, Ballybay,
The birds are far away;
But our hearts they sang together
On the road to Ballybay.

By kind permission of the Editor of The Lady of the House.

Prose, Poems & Parodies of Percy French, 1980, Helicon Limited, Dublin.