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My young love said to me, "My mother won't mind,
And my father won't slight you for your lack of kind."
And she stepped away from me and this she did say,
"It will not be long, love, till our wedding day."
As she stepped away from me and she moved through the fair,
And fondly I watched her move here and move there;
And then she turned homeward with one star awake,
Like the swan in the evening moves over the lake.
The people were saying, no two e'er were wed,
But one had a sorrow that never was said;
And I smiled as she passed with her goods and her gear,
And that was the last that I saw of my dear.
Last night she came to me, my dead love came in,
So softly she came that her feet made no din;
As she laid her hand on me and this she did say,
"It will not be long, love, till our wedding day."
Based on a traditional Irish folk song. The song was first
collected in Donegal by Padraic Colum and Herbert
Hughes, and published by Boosey & Hawkes in
London in a work entitled Irish Country Songs in 1909,
though some claim it dates back to medieval times. The
lyrics, except for the last verse, were composed by
Padraic Colum, and the tune was written down by
Herbert Hughes. Most modern arrangements of the song
can be traced to the recording by Fairport Convention in
1968, who adopted the style of the song from the
travelling singer Margaret Barry.
