Lyrics and notes from http://www.veteran.co.uk/vt153cd_words.htm :

THE IRISHMAN'S SHAMROCK

I was leaving dear old Ireland in the merry month of June,
How sweet the birds were singing and all nature was in time -
When an Irish girl accosted me with a sad tear in her eye,
And as these words she said to me, so bitterly she cried:

"Kind sir, oh kind sir, will you do me a favour?
It isn't much I ask you, but it would ease my heart of pain.
Take this to my brother, because I have no other,
And tell him it's the shamrock from his dear old mother's grave."

CHORUS: "It's only a shamrock, the Irishman's shamrock,
From his own darling Nora, far across the sea,
And if you meet him, kindly please tell him,
It's the shamrock from his dear old mother's grave."

Tell him since he's been gone, how bitter has been our lot:
The agent came and turned us from our little humble cot.
We had no place to shelter and friends but few,
So you see, dear brother, all I have is you.

Chorus


Although THE IRISHMAN'S SHAMROCK sounds like an Irish song, it was actually written in 1889 (as THE THREE LEAVES OF SHAMROCK) by an American, albeit of Irish ancestry, called James McGuire. The song was popularised in America by singers Lester McFarland & Robert A. Gardner, who recorded it in 1928 and 1931 (this latter recording being issued on no fewer than eight separate labels), and by Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers, who recorded it in 1929 under the title LEAVING DEAR OLD IRELAND.