‘Oh you’re welcome home again’, said the young man to his love,
‘I have waited for many a night and day.’
‘You look tired and you are pale’, said the young man to his love,
‘You should never again go away.’
‘I must go away’, she said, ’when the little cock will crow
‘For here they will not let me stay.’
‘Oh and if I had my way’, said the young man to his love,
‘This night would be never ever day.’
‘Oh my pretty, pretty cock, oh my handsome little cock
‘I pray you never crow before the day.
‘And your comb shall be made of the very bright and gold
‘And your wings of the silver so bright.’
But oh this little cock, this handsome little cock
He crew out a full hour too soon
‘Oh my darling’, she said, ‘it is time for us to part
‘It is now the fulling dawn, dawn, dawn.’
‘And where is your bed, my dearest dear?’, he said
‘And where are your fine holland sheets?
‘And where are your maids, my dearest dear’, he said
‘To wait upon you while you are asleep?’
‘The clay is my bed, my dearest dear’, she said
‘The shroud is my fine holland sheet.
‘Oh the worms and the creeping things are my waiting maids
‘Who wait upon me while I am asleep.’