Mellow the moonlight to shine is beginning
Close by the window young Eileen is spinning
Bent o'er the fire her blind grandmother sitting
Crooning and moaning and drowsily knitting
Merrily, cheerily, noisily whirring
Spins the wheel, swings the reel while the foot's stirring
Lightly and brightly and airily ringing
Sounds the sweet voice of the young maiden singing
Eileen a leanbh I hear someone tapping
'Tis the ivy grandmother against the glass 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
Step up from the stool, through the lattice step lightly
And we'll rove in the grove while the moon's shining brightly
The maid lifts her head on her lips lays her fingers
Gets up from the stool, longs to go, but 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 wheels sound
Sprightly and lithe through the lattice above her
The maid steps then leaps to the arms of her lover
Slower and slower and slower the wheel spins
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
