The Forsaken Mermaid

As I was a walking down by the sea shore,
Where the winds and the waves and the billows did roar,
There I heard a strange voice make a terrible sound,
'Twas the wind and the waves and the echoes all round,
Crying Oh, my lover's gone,
He's a youth I adore,
He's gone and I never
Shall see him no more.

She'd a voice like a nightingale, skin like a dove
And the song that she sung it waqs all about love
I saked her to marry me, marry me, please
But the answer she gave, My love's drowned in the sea
Crying etc.

I told her I'd gold and I'd silver beside
In a coach and six horses with me she could ride
No I never will marry nor yet make a wife
I'll stay constant and true all the time I've got life,
Crying etc.

She threw out her arms and she took a great leap
From the cliffs that were high to the billows so deep,
Crying, the rocks of the ocean shall make me a bed
And the shrimps of the sea shall swim over my head.
Crying, etc.

And now every night at six bells they appear
When the moon it is shining, the sky it is clear
These two constant lovers with all their young charms
Rolling over and over in each other's arms.
Crying etc.

See also I'm Never to Marry (I Never Will Marry)
From the Copper Family Song Book
RG
Apr98