Print This Page#01397 Print This Page
Carey, Carey, it is my name, Wexford I was born,
I done a deed as you may read through pride and public scorn;
I done a deed as you may read and for it now must die,
My father's blood to the heavens now for vengeance loud do cry.
I courted a girl who lived nearby, I courted her as you may hear,
I oftentimes robbed my father's house and spent it on my dear;
A good advice they give to me for this cruel deed I've done,
In trying to gain my father's farm, I was his eldest son.
On the fourth day of October, I watched him coming home,
Not thinking on a danger as he walked all alone;
When like some hungry wolf or lion I sprang upon my prey,
'Twas with a fork I stabbed him and took his life away.
Full fifteen blows I gave to him as he lay in his gore,
The dreadful pain and agony its lust I now deplore;
The devil's trace stood by my side for the cruel deed I've done,
My father's blood fork the heavens now for vengeance loud do cry.
The fork that did this cruel deed, as you will understand,
Both fork and handle I did wash and I scoured it well with sand;
My mother found it in the barn quite late the next day,
Here I had stowed it safe in a heap of straw and hay.
Then I was taken prisoner and then to prison camp,
'Twas there I lay lamenting till the sentence on me passed;
The jury found me guilty, the judge to me did say,
On the fourteenth day of April next will be your dying day.
So good-bye honourable mother, your loss I now deplore,
To see your aged husband a-bleeding in his glare;
To see the son you once loved dear must die on public scorn,
May God help my poor broken heart, I wish I was never barn.
My time is come, my glass is run, I am prepared to die,
Hoping to gain pardon from him who reigns on high;
And all you foolish young men a warning take by me,
Beware of Satan's promises and think on my sad state,
Collected n 1950 from Patrick Power of Cape Broyle, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
Macedward Leach collected another variant in 1951 from Ned Williams of St. Vincent's, NL, and published it as Patrick Power in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
