Print This Page#01568 Print This Page
Come all you young people, I pray you will attend,
And listen to my story in sorrow I did spend,
Concerning a young sailor who plowed the raging main,
And his own dear darling Josephine on the rosy banks of green.
This couple had been school-mates in childhood's happy days,
When he was but a school-boy he stole her heart away;
She was loved by lords and squires but their love was all in vain,
For she dearly loved her sailor on the rosy banks of green.
'Twas early on Sunday morning down in her father's grove,
Sat Josephine conversing with the boy she dearly loved;
With kisses and embraces from his own dear Josephine,
Saying, "Tonight we will be far away from the rosy banks of green."
Her father overheard them, in anger could not stand,
He then jumped out upon them with a loaded gun in hand,
Saying, "Die, you cruel sailor, no more you'll plow the main,
For tonight you will be far away from the rosy banks of green."
He aimed the deadly weapon, the fatal trigger drew,
And Josephine like lightning in her lover's arms she flew;
The bullet left the muzzle, its aim so true and keen,
And they both fell together on the rosy banks of green.
As Josephine lay dying these words I heard her say:
"I'm glad my dear old mother never lived to see this day;
In the higher seats of glory a witness she has been
To the murder of her daughter on the rosy banks of green.
"O, Charlie, dearest Charlie, we will meet on a distant shore,
But your old and aged parents will never see you more;
But I hope you'll rest in glory with your own dear Josephine,
And we never shall be parted on the rosy banks of green."
Come all you good people, I pray you will draw near
To the graves of those two lovers, in sorrow shed a tear;
Beneath two marble tombstones out on yonder church-yard green,
Lie two innocent lovers on the rosy banks of green.
