Barbara Allen- Moses (KY) 1931 Fuson
[From Ballads of the Kentucky highlands, by Henry Harvey Fuson; 1931.
R. Matteson 2015]
BARBARA ALLEN (Copy furnished by Prof. Leon Denny Moses)
All in the merry month of May,
When all things were a-blooming,
Sweet William came from the Western States,
And courted Barbara Allen.
But he took sick, and very sick,
And he sent for Barbara Allen.
And all she said when she got there,
"Young man, you are a-dying."
"Oh yes, I'm sick, and I'm very sick,
And I think that death's upon me;
But one sweet kiss from Barbara's lips
Will save me from my dying."
"But don't you remember the other day
You were down in town a-drinking,
You drank your health to the ladies all round,
And slighted Barbara Allen."
"Oh yes, I remember the other day
I was down in town a-drinking;
I drank my health to the ladies all round,
But my love to Barbara Allen."
He turned his face to the wall;
She turned her back upon him;
The very last word she heard him say,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen."
As she passed on through London Town,
She heard some bells a-ringing,
And every bell, it seemed to say,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen."
She then passed on to the country road,
And heard some birds a-singing ;
And every bird, it seemed to say,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen."
She hadn't got more than a mile from town
When she saw his corpse a-coming;
"O bring him here, and ease him down,
And let me look upon him.
"Oh, take him away, Oh, take him away !
For I am sick and dying!
His death-cold features say to me,
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen."
" O father, O father, go dig my grave
And dig it long and narrow ;
Sweet William died for me to-day;
I'll die for him to-morrow."
They buried them both in the old churchyard,
All side and side each other;
A red, red rose grew out of his grave,
And a green briar out of hers.
They grew and grew so very high
That they could grow no higher;
They lapped, then tied in a true love-knot,
The red rose ran round the briar.