The water is wide, I cannot get through,
And neither have I wings to fly.
Give me a boat that will carry two.
And both shall row, my love and I.
Down in the meadows the other day,
A-gathering flowers both fine and gay,
A-gathering flowers both red and blue
I little thought what love can do.
I leaned my back up against some oak,
Thinking that he was a rusty tree,
But first he bended and then he broke,
And so did my false love to me.
I put my hand into the bush,
Thinking the fairest flower to find,
I pricked my finger to the bone,
But, oh, I left the rose behind.
A ship there is and she sails the sea,
She's loaded deep as deep can be;
But not so deep as the love I'm in,
I know not if I sink or swim.
Love os handsome and love is kind,
And love's a jewel when she is new.
But when it is old, it groweth cold.
And fades away like the morning dew.
-anonymous
