Mellow the moonlight to shine is beginning
Close by the window young Eileen is spinning
Bent o’er the reel her blind grandmother sitting
Is moaning and crooning and drowsily knitting
O merrily, cheerily, noisily whirring
Spins the wheel, swings the wheel while the foot’s stirring
Sprightly and lightly and airily ringing
Sounds the sweet voice of the young maiden singing
“Eileen, a chara, I hear someone tapping"
"'Tis the ivy, dear mother, against the glass flapping"
“Eileen, I surely hear somebody sighing"
“'Tis the sound, mother dear, of the autumn winds dying"
O merrily, cheerily, noisily whirring
Spins the wheel, swings the wheel while the foot’s stirring
Sprightly and lightly and airily ringing
Sounds the sweet voice of the young maiden singing
There’s a form at the casement, the form of her true love
He whispers with face bent, “I'm waiting for you, love
Get up from the stool, through the lattice step lightly
And we’ll rove in the grove while the moon’s shining brightly"
O merrily, cheerily, noisily whirring
Spins the wheel, swings the wheel while the foot’s stirring
Sprightly and lightly and airily ringing
Sounds the sweet voice of the young maiden singing
The maid shakes her head, to her lips lays her fingers
Leaps up from the stool, longs to go and yet lingers
A frightened glance turns to her drowsy grandmother
Puts one foot on the stool, spins the wheel with the other
O lazily, hazily, noiselessly whirring
Lower and slower is heard the reel’s whirring
Noiseless and light through the lattice above her
The maid steps, then leaps to the arms of her lover
Slower and slower and slower the wheel turns
Lower and lower, and lower the reel rings
Ere the wheel and the reel stop their spinning and moving
Through the grove the young lovers by moonlight are roving