Barney and Katie

One cold winter night when the tempest was stormy;
The snow like a sheet covered cabin and side,
When Barney flew over the hills to his darling,
And rapped at the window where Katie did lie.

"Adieu all," said he, "Are you asleep or awaking;
It's a bitter cold night and my coat it is thin;
The storm it's a brewing, the frost it's a making,
And Kathleen Mavarney won't you let me in?"

"Barney," said Kate as she spoke through the window,
"How can you be taking us out of our bed
To come at this time it . . . shame to
The wind it has got into your head.

"If your heart it was true of my fame you'd be tender,
Consider the time when there's nobody in,
What have a poor girl but her name to defend her,
No Barney, my Barney, I won't let you in."

"I believe," said he, "sure your eyes is a fountain,
'Twould weep for the love I might lie at your door,
And your name is so white as the snow on the mountain,
And Barney will die to preserve it as pure."

"I'll go to my home where the winter can't face me,
I'll whistle . . . I'll not be within
And the words of my Katy will comfort and cheer me,
No Barney, my Barney, I won't let you in."

DT #480
Laws O21
From MacEdward Leach, Folk Ballads and Songs of the Lower Labrador Coast
RG
oct96