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I shipped on board early one spring,
I shipped on board for to serve my king,
Leaving my dearest here behind
Who ofttimes told me her heart was mine.
I wrote some letters to my dear
But not a word from her did hear,
Until I came to her father's hall
And so loudly on her I did call.
"My daughter is married and don't you know?
My daughter got married a long time ago,
My daughter got married in the prime of life,
So go young man seek another wife."
Curse to the gold and the silver, too,
Curse to the girl that proved untrue,
Curse to the girl that did break her vow,
And leave me where I'm standing now.
I will return from whence I came,
I will plow the seas all o'er again,
I will plow the seas till the day I die,
Where the mighty waves roll mountains high.
"Come back, come back, my dearest one,
If you sent letters I did get none,
It's my father's fault, it's none of mine,
So don't be hard unto womenkind.
"I love my father, I love my mother,
I love my sisters, I love my brother,
I love my friends and relations, too,
I'll forsake all those and follow you."
Collected in 1960 from Leonard Hulan of Jeffrey's, NL, by Kenneth Peacock and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 2, pp.549-550, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
