The Drowsy Sleeper- Eva Case (MO) 1916 Belden D
[From: Ballads and Songs, Belden; 1940. The "arrow" stanza is found similarly in West Virginia (two instances) and Missouri (one instance). In two cases the arrow is used for a suicide, the other is an "I wish" stanza. Since he is being buried in the next stanza, perhaps the arrow should have been "stuck in his breast."
R. Matteson 2016]
"The Drowsy Sleeper." Contributed by Eva Case, in 1916, from her childhood memories in Harrison County. Belden D
'Awake, awake, you drowsy sleeper!
Awake, awake, it is almost day!
How can you bear for to lie and slumber
When your true lover is a-going away?'
'Go 'way, go 'way! you'll wake my mother,
And that will be sad news for me.
You must go 'way and court some other,
For she is all this world to me.
'Go 'way, go 'way, you'll wake my father,
He now lies on his bed of rest,
And in his hand he holds a dagger
For to kill the one that I love best.
'Go fetch to me both pen and paper
That I may set me down and write;
I'll tell you of the grief and sorrow
That trouble me both day and night.
'I wish I were a little swallow,
Or else some lonesome turtle dove;
I'd fly away over hills of sorrow
And light upon some land of love.'
'In yonder field go stick an arrow;
I wish the same was in my breast.
I'd bid adieu to sin and sorrow,
And my poor soul would be at rest.
'Go dig my grave in yonder meadow,
Place marble stones at my head and feet,
And on my breast a turtle dove
To show the world that I died for love.'