How sweet ‘tis in winter to sit by the hob,
Listening to the bark and the howls of a dog.
Or in summer to wander the wide valleys through,
And to pluck the wild flowers in the May morning dew.

Summer is coming, oh summer is here,
With the leaves all so green and the sky bright and clear.
And the birds they’re singing their loved ones to woo,
And the flowers they are springing in the May morning dew.

God be with the old folk who are now dead and gone,
And likewise my brothers, young Michael and John.
As they tripped through the heather the wild hare to pursue,
And their joys they were mingled in the May morning dew.

And the house we were reared in is but a stone on a stone,
And all round the garden with weeds is all grown.
And all the fine neighbours that ever I knew,
Like the wild rose, they’re withered in the May morning dew.

“This song, evoking old age and the passing of time, while being popular in West Clare, does not seem to have been often recorded from traditional singers elsewhere; the only other two versions listed by Roud being from Ann Jane Kelly of Keady, Armagh, in 1952 and Paddy Tunney of Beleek, Fermanagh, in 1965; The Keane sisters of Caherlistrane, County Galway also have a version of it.”
Jim Carroll

See also
May Morning Dew sung by Ollie Conway
May Morning Dew sung by Kitty Hayes
May Morning Dew sung by Peggy McMahon