I Drew My Ship into the Harbor- (Northumbria) 1882 Stokoe
[No informant named. From Northumbrian Minstrelsy: A Collection of the Ballads, Melodies, and Small-Pipe Tunes of Northumbria; edited by John Collingwood Bruce, John Stokoe; 1882.
The title is "I Drew My Ship into A Harbour" but it has "the Habour" in the text, so I've changed it. This is an abbreviated version of "I Will Set My Ship in Order" which is missing stanzas after the second which explain his abrupt departure.
"Then slowly, slowly, got she up," is a ballad commonplace found also in Barbara Allen.
R. Matteson 2016]
I Drew My Ship into the[1] Harbour
I drew my ship into the harbour,
I drew her up where my true love lay,
I drew her close by up to the window,
To listen what my dear girl did say.
“Who’s there that raps so loud at my window
That raps so loud and fain would be in?"
“It is your true love that loves you dearly,
So rise, dear girl, and let him in.”
Then slowly, slowly, got she up,
And slowly, slowly, came she down;
But before she got the door unlocked
Her true love had both come and gone.
“Come back, come back, my only true love,
Come back, my ain one, and ease my pain;
Your voice I knew not, your face I saw not,
Oh John my heart will break in twain.”
The ripest apple is soonest rotten,
The hottest love is soonest cold;
Seldom seen, is soon forgotten,
True love is timid, so be not bold.
He's brisk and braw, lads, he's far awa' lads;
He's far beyond yon raging main,
Where fishers dancing and dark eyes glancing,
Have made him quite forget his ain.
1. originally, "I Drew My Ship Into A Harbour"