X: 1
T: John MacAnanty's Courtship
S:P.W.Joyce, Old Irish Folk Music and Songs
F:http://www.faeriemagazine.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=38	2008-3-20
K:D
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W:On the first day of May at the close of the day,
W:As I stood in the shade of a green spread-ing tree,
W:A young lov- er a court- ing a Maid- en I spied;
W:I drew ve- ry nigh them to hear and see.
W:
W:The dress that he wore was a velvet so green,
W:All trimmed with gold lace, and as bright as the sea;
W:And he said, "Love, I'll make you my own fairy queen,
W:If you are but willing to go with me."
W:
W:"Lisses and forts shall be at your command,
W:Mountains and valleys the lands and the sea,
W:And the billows that roar along the sea-shore,
W:If you are but willing to go with me."
W:
W:"To make me a queen my birth is too mean,
W:And you will get ladies of higher degree;
W:I know not your name nor from whence you came,
W:So I am not willing to go with thee."
W:
W:"I will tell you my name and I love you the same
W:As if you were a lady of higher degree;
W:John MacAnanty's my name, and from Scrabo I came,
W:And the queen of that country my love shall be."
W:
W:"If I were to go with onw I don't know,
W:My parents and friends would be angry with me;
W:They would bring me back again with shame and disdain,
W:So I am not willing to go with thee."
W:
W:"From your friends we will sail in a ship that won't fail,
W:With silken top-sail and wonderful flight;
W:From this to Coleraine, to France, and to Spain,
W:And home back again in one short night.
W:
W:"There is not a fort from this to the north
W:But we'll dance all around it and sing merrilie;
W:And the lads of Queen Anne shall be at your command,
W:And they shall all stand in great dread of thee.
W:
W:"Many a mile I have roamed in my time,
W:By sea and by land, a-looking for thee;
W:And I never could find peace or rest to my mind,
W:Until fortune proved kind and sent you to me."