Drowsy Sleeper- Cruickshank (KS) 1920 Belden E
[My title, none given. Ballads and Songs, Belden; 1940
R. Matteson 2016]
E. "Drowsy Sleeper." Secured by Miss Lowry in 1920 from Earl Cruickshank of Columbus, Kansas, who knew it from his mother's singing.
'Awake, awake, ye drowsy sleeper,
Awake, awake, it's almost day.
How can you bear to lie in slumber
When your true lover's going away?'
''Who's that, who's that all at my window,
Who calls my name so speedily?'
'It is, it is your own dear Willie
'Who wants to have a talk with you.'
'Go 'way, go way, you'll wake my mother;
No tales of love she wants to hear.
Go way, go way and court some other,'
She softly whispered in his ear.
'My pretty little miss, be not offended
At what I say-- I mean no harm.
I only mean to steal you away from your mother
That you may lodge in your true love's arms.'
'Go way, go way, you'll wake my father;
He's now a-taking up his rest.
In his right hand he holds a weapon
To slay the one that I love best.'
'In yonder wood there grows an arrow,
I wish I had it through my breast;
'Twould put an end to all my sorrow,
And my poor soul should be at rest.'