C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Ailleen

’TIS not for love of gold I go,

’Tis not for love of fame;

Tho’ Fortune should her smile bestow,

And I may win a name,

Ailleen,

And I may win a name.

And yet it is for gold I go,

And yet it is for fame,—

That they may deck another brow

And bless another name,

Ailleen,

And bless another name.

For this, but this, I go—for this

I lose thy love awhile;

And all the soft and quiet bliss

Of thy young, faithful smile,

Ailleen,

Of thy young, faithful smile.

And I go to brave a world I hate

And woo it o’er and o’er,

And tempt a wave and try a fate

Upon a stranger shore,

Ailleen,

Upon a stranger shore.

Oh! when the gold is wooed and won,

I know a heart will care!

Oh! when the bays are all my own,

I know a brow shall wear,

Ailleen,

I know a brow shall wear.

And when, with both returned again,

My native land to see,

I know a smile will meet me there

And a hand will welcome me,

Ailleen,

And a hand will welcome me!