Come all ye young and tender maidens

Come all ye young and tender maidens
Take warning how you court young men
They're like a star on a cloudy morning
They first appear and then they're gone

They'll tell to you some lovely story
They'll tell to you that their hearts are true
Straight way to some other girl and court her
And that's the love they have for you.

I wish I was a little sparrow
A sparrow's wings and I could fly
I'd fly away to my own true lover
While he would talk, I would deny

But I am not a little sparrow
I've got no wings and I can't fly
I'll sit right down in grief and sorrow
And try and pass my sorrows by.

If I'd have known before I'd courted
That love could be so hard to win
I'd have locked my heart with a key of golden
And tied it down with a silver pin.