Meet me to-night, lover, meet me,
O meet me in the moonlight alone,
I have a sad story to tell you,
Must be told in the moonlight alone.

I'm going to a new jail to-morrow,
And leave my poor darlin' alone,
With the cold prison bars all around me,
And my head on a pillow of stone.

Your father and mother don't like me,
Or they never would have drove me from their door;
If I had my life to live over
I would never go there any more.

I wish I had never been born
Or had died when I was young.
I would never have saw your sweet face
Or heard your lyin' tongue.

If I had a-minded my mother
I had been with her today,
But I was young and foolish
And you stole my heart away.

I have three ships on the ocean
All laden with silver and gold;
And before my darlin' should suffer
I'd have them all anchored and sold.

If I had the wings of an eagle
Across the wide sea I would fly.
I would fly to the arms of my darling
And there I would stay till I die.