Classic Poem

1 It was in the town of Waterford,
Where I was bred and born.
It was in the city of Baltimore
That I owned a flowered farm.

2 I courted manys a Wexford girl
With dark and rolling eyes.
I asked her for to marry me,
And “Yes” was her reply.

3 I went up to her father's house
About eight o'clock one night;
I asked her for to take a walk,
Our wedding day to appoint.

4 We walked along quite easily
Till I came to level ground.
I broke a stake out of the fence
And I beat this fair maid down.

5 Down on her bended knee she fell;
In mercy she did cry,
“O Willie dear, don't murder me,
For I'm not prepared to die!”

6 He heeded not the words she said,
But he beat her all the more,
Till all the ground for yards around
Was in a bloody gore.

7 I went up to my mother's house
About twelve o'clock that night;
My mother she'd been sitting up,
She took an awful fright.

8 “O son, dear son, what have you done?
What bled your hands and clothes?”
The answer that I made to her
Was, “Bleeding of the nose.”

9 I asked her for a candle
To light my way to bed,
Likewise a handkerchief to wrap
Around my aching head.

10 I tied it and I twisted it,
But no comfort could I find;
The flames of Hell shone round me,
And my true love not far behind.

11 It was in about three weeks after,
This fair maid she was found,
A-floating down the river
That leads to Wexford town.

12 And all that saw her said she was
A beauteous handsome bride
That she was fit for any lord, duke, or king,
Or any squire's bride.

13 I was taken on suspicion,
And placed in Wexford gaol,
Where there was none to pity me,
Or none to go my bail.

14 Come all ye royal true lovers,
A warning take by me,
And never treat your own true love
To any cruelty.

15 For if you do you'll rue like me
Until the day you die;
You'll hang like me, a murderer,
All on the gallows high.