Rare old Times

Ring a ring a rosie, as the light declines I'll remember Dublin city, in the rare ould times Raised on songs & stories, heroes of renown The passing tales & glories, that once was Dublin town The hallowed halls & houses, the haunting childrens' rhymes That once was Dublin city, in the rare ould times My name it is Sean Dempsey, as Dublin as could be Born hard & late in Pimlico, in a house that's ceased to be By trade I was a cooper, lost out to redundancy Like my house that fell to progress, my trade's a memory & I courted Peggy Dignan, as pretty as you please A rogue & a child of Mary, from the rebel Liberties I lost her to a student chap, with a skin as black as coal When he took her off to Birmingham, she took away my soul The years have made me bitter, the gargle dims me brain Cause Dublin keeps on changing, & nothing seems the same The Pillar & the Met have gone, the Royal long since pulled down As the grey unyielding concrete, makes a city of my town Fare thee well sweet Anna Liffey, I can no longer stay & watch the new glass cages, that spring up along the quay My mind's too full of memories, too old to hear new chimes I'm a part of what was Dublin, in the rare ould times