Mellow the moonlight to shine is beginning Close by the window young Eileen is spinning Bent o'er the fire her grand grandmother sitting Is crooning and moaning and drowsily knitting Merrily cheerily noisily whirring Swings the wheel spins the wheel while the foot's stirring Sprightly and lightly and merrily ringing Sounds the sweet voice of the young maiden singing Eileen, a chara, I hear someone tapping 'Tis the ivy dear mother against the gla** flapping Eileen, I surely hear somebody sighing 'Tis the sound mother dear of the autumn winds dying There's a form at the casement, the form of her true love And he whispers with face bent, I'm waiting for you love Get up on the stool, through the lattice step lightly And we'll rove in the grove while the moon's shining brightly Merrily cheerily noisily whirring
Swings the wheel spins the wheel while the foot's stirring Sprightly and lightly and merrily ringing Sounds the sweet voice of the young maiden singing The maid shakes her head, on her lips lays her fingers Steals up from the seat, 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 Lazily, easily, swings now the wheel round Slowly and lowly is heard now the reel's sound Noiseless and light to the lattice above her The maid steps, then leaps to the arms of her lover Slower and slower, and slower the wheel swings Lower and lower, and lower the reel rings There the reel and the wheel stop their spinning and moving The grove the young lovers by moonlight are roving