As I was walking down the road A feeling fine and larky oh A recruiting sergeant came up to me Says he, you'd look fine in khaki oh For the King he is in need of men Come read this proclamation oh A life in Flanders for you then Would be a fine vacation oh That may be so says I to him But tell me sergeant dearie-oh If I had a pack stuck upon my back Would I look fine and cheerie oh For they'd have you train and drill until They had you one of the Frenchies oh It may be warm in Flanders But it's draughty in the trenches oh The sergeant smiled and winked his eye His smile was most provoking oh He twiddled and twirled his wee mustache Says he, you're only joking oh For the sandbags are so warm and high The wind you won't feel blowing oh Well I winked at a cailin passing by Says I, what if it's snowing oh Come rain or hail or wind or snow I'm not going out to Flanders oh There's fighting in Dublin to be done Let your sergeants and your commanders go Let Englishmen fight English wars It's nearly time they started oh I saluted the sergeant a very good night And there and then we parted oh As I went down to Galway Town To seek for recreation On the seventeenth of August Me mind being elevated There were passengers assembled With their tickets at the station And me eyes began to dazzle And they off to see the races With me wack fol the do fol The diddle idle day There were passengers from Limerick And passengers from Nenagh The boys of Connemara And the Clare unmarried maiden There were people from Cork City Who were loyal, true and faithful Who brought home the Fenian prisoners From dying in foreign nations And it's there you'll see the pipers And the fiddlers competing And the sporting wheel of fortune And the four and twenty quarters And there's others without scruple Pelting wattles at poor Maggie And her father well contented And he gazing at his daughter And it's there you'll see the jockeys And they mounted on so stably The pink, the blue, the orange, and green The colors of our nation The time it came for starting All the horses seemed impatient Their feet they hardly touched the ground The speed was so amazing! There was half a million people there Of all denominations The Catholic, the Protestant, the Jew, the Presbyterian Yet there was no animosity No matter what persuasion But fáilte hospitality Inducing fresh acquaintance