Harris my old friend, good to see your face again More welcome though the trap and that old mare For the wife is in a swoon, and I am all alone Harris fetch your mare and take us home The wife and I came out for a quiet glass of stout And a word or two with neighbors in the room But young Cleary he came in, as wild and drunk as sin And swore the wife would leave the place with him But the wife, as quick as thought, said no I'll bloody not And the struck the brute a blow about the head He raised his ugly paw and lashed her on the jaw And she fell upon the floor like she were dead Now Harris well you know I've never struck a angry blow Nor would I keep a friend who raised his hand I was a conshie in the war, crying "What the hell's this for?" But I had to see his blood to be a man I took him by the coat, spun him round and took his throat And I beat his head upon the parlour floor He dragged out an awful knife and he roared "I'll have your life" Then he struck me and I fell upon the floor Blood I was from neck to thigh, a bloody murder in his eye As he shouted out "I'll finish you for sure" But as the knife came down, I lashed out from the ground And the knife was in his breast when he rolled o'er With the wife as cold as clay I carried her away No hand was raised to help us through the door And I've brought her half a mile, but I had to rest a while And none of them I'll call a friend no more For when the knife came down I was helpless on the ground No neighbor stayed his hand, I was alone By God, I was a man, but now I cannot stand Harris fetch your mare and take us home Now Harris fetch your mare and take us out of here In my nine and fifty years I'd never known That to call myself a man for my loved one I must stand Harris fetch your mare and take us home