Butcher Boy

In Dublin city where I did dwell
A butcher boy I loved right well
He courted me my life away
But now with me he will not stay

I wish I wish I wish in vain
I wish I was a maid again
A maid again I 'nere will be
'til cherries grow on an ivy tree


I wish my baby it was born
And smiling on it's daddy's knee
And me poor girl to be dead and gone
With the long green grass growin' over me

She went upstairs to go to bed
And calling out to her mother said
Give me a chair 'til lights are down
And a pen and ink to write right down

On every word she dropped a tear
And every line cried Willy dear
Oh what a foolish girl was I
To be led astray by a butcher boy

He went upstairs and the door he broke
He found her hanging from a rope
He took his knife and he cut her down
And in her pocket these words he found

Oh make my grave large wide and deep
Put a marble stone at my head and feet
And in the middle a turtle dove
That the world may know I died for love