Thade Andy was a simple spoken fool,
With whom in early days I loved to stroll.
He’d often take me on his back to school,
And make the master laugh, himself, he was so droll.
In songs and ballads he took great delight,
And prophecies of Ireland yet being freed,
And singing them by our fireside at night,
I learned songs from Thade before I learned to read,
And I have still by heart his “Colleen Fhune,”
His “Croppy Boy,” his “Phœnix of the Hall,”