Rambling Boy- (Limerick) chapbook W. Goggin, 1790
["Rambling Boy," To which is Added, The New Vagary O, Shepherds I Have Lost My Love, The Drop of Dram, Fight Your Cock in the Morning. Published by W. Goggin of Limerick BM 11622 c.14, dated 1790.
This is an early Irish text. I only have the first verse and first line of each additional verse which was supplied by Steve Gardham. I've added the text in brackets.
R. Matteson 2017]
Rambling Boy
1. I am a raking Rambling Boy,
My lodging is near Augnacloy,
A rambling boy altho' I be,
I'll forsake my friends and go with thee.
2. My father offer'd me house and land,
[Bid me use it at my command
But at my command they shall I never be;
I’ll forsake them all love and go with thee.]
3. Billy, Billy, I love you well,
[I love you better than tongue can tell
I love you well but dare not show,
To you my dear, let no one know.]
4. Was I a blackbird or thrush,
[Changing my notes from bush to bush,
That all the world might plainly see,
I lov'd a man that lov'd not me.]
5. I wish I was some little fly,
[That on his bosom I might lie.
And all the people fast asleep,
Into my lover's arms I'd softly creep.]
6. Her father being out late at night
[And asking for his heart's delight.
He ran up stairs, the door he broke,
And found her hanging in a rope.]
7. And in her bosom a Note was bound,
[When he cut her down, the note was found:
Dig me a grave both wide and deep.
And a marble stone to cover it.]
8. And in the middle a turtle dove,
[To show the world I died for love.]