The Butcher Boy

In Dublin City, where I did dwell
A butcher boy I loved right well
He courted me my life away
But now with me he will not stay

I wish, I wish
I wish in vain
I wish I were a maid again
But a maid again
I ne'er will be
'Til cherries grow on an ivy tree

I'm wishin' my baby it was born
And smiling on his daddy's knee
This wee poor girl would be dead and gone
With the tall green grass all over me

She went upstairs to go to bed
And turning to her mother said
"Give me a chair 'til I sit down
And a pen and ink 'til I write down"

With every word she dropped a tear
With every line cried "Willie dear
Oh, what a foolish girl was I
To be led astray by a butcher boy"

He went upstairs
Through the door he broke
He found her hanging from a rope
He took his knife and he cut her down

And in her pocket these words he found
"Oh, make my grave large wide and deep
Put a marble stone at my head and
Feet, And in the middle a turtle dove
That the world may know I died for love"