"The Butcher Boy" lyrics

In Armagh town, where I did dwell
A butcher boy, I loved right well
He courted me, my life away
And now with me, he will not stay

I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
I wish I was a maid again
A maid again I ne'er will be
Till cherries grow on an ivy tree

I wish, I wish, my baby was born
And smiling on its daddy's knee
And me poor girl to be dead and gone
With the long green grass growin' over me

She went upstairs to go to bed
On calling for, her mother said
"Give me a chair till I sit down
A pen and ink till I write down"

With every word she dropped a tear
And every line cried, "Willie dear
Oh, what a foolish girl was I
To be led astray by a butcher boy"

He went upstairs, the door he broke
He found her there, hanging from a rope
He took his knife and cut her down
And in her pocket, these words he found:

"Oh, make my grave large, wide and deep
Put a marble stone at my head and feet
And in the middle, lay a turtle dove
So the world might know; I died for love"