1.
Come all ye fair and tender ladies,
take warning how you court young men.
They're like the stars of a summer's morning,
they'll first appear and then they're gone.
2.
They'll tell to you some lovin' story,
they'll swear to you their love is true,
straight-way they'll go and court another,
and that's the love they had for you.
3.
Oh, do you remember our days of courtin'
when your head lay upon my breast?
You could make me believe with the fallin' of your arm
that the sun rose in the West.
4.
If I'd a known before I courted
that love it was such a killin' thing,
I'd a locked my heart in a box of golden
and fastened it up with a silver pin.
5.
I wish I was a little sparrow,
and I had wings and I could fly,
I'd fly away to my own true lover,
and when he'd speak I would deny.
6.
But I am not no little Sparrow,
I have no wings, neither can I fly,
I'll sit right down in my grief and sorrow,
and let my troubles pass me by.
7.
Come all ye fair and tender maidens,
take warning how you court young men.
They're like the stars of a summer's morning,
they'll first appear and then they're gone.
