Craigie Hill It being in spring and the small birds they were singing Down by a shady arbour I carelessly did stray Where the thrushes they were warbling The violets they were charming For to view two lovers talking a while I did delay She said, "My dear, don't leave me all for another season Though fortune may be pleasing I'll go along with you I'll give up friends and relations and quit this Irish nation And to the bonnie Bann banks forever I'll bid adieu" He said, "My dear, don't grieve me or yet annoy my patience You know I love you dearly although I'm going away I'm going to some foreign nation to purchase a plantation For to comfort us hereafter all in America. The landlords and their agents, their bailiffs and their beagles The land of our forefathers we're forced for to give o'er And we're sailing on the ocean for honor and promotion And we're parting with our sweethearts, it's them we do adore If you were in your bed lying and thinking of dying One sight of the bonny Bann banks, your sorrows you'd give o'er And if your were but one hour all in her shady bower Pleasure would surround you, You'd think on death no more So fare thee well, sweet Craigie Hill, where ofttimes I have roved in I never thought in my childhood days I'd part you any more But we're sailing on the ocean for honour and promotion And the bonny boat's sailing way down by Doorin shore ZX oct99
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!