One morning very early;one morning in the spring,I heard a maid in Bedlam,who mournfully did sing;Her chains she rattled in her handswhile sweetly thus sung she,I love my love, because I knowmy love loves me.
Oh! cruel were his parents,who sent my love to sea;And cruel, cruel was the ship,that bore my love from me:Yet I love his parents since they're his,altho' they've ruin'd me;And I love my love, because I knowmy love loves me.
should it please the pitying Powers,to call me to the sky,I'd claim a Guardian angel's charge,around my love to fly.To guard him from all dangers;how happy should I be!For I love my love, because I knowmy love loves me.
I'll make a strawy garlard,I'll make it wond'rous fine;With roses lillies, daffies.I'll mix the eglantine:And I'll present it to my love.when he returns from seaFor I love my love, because I knowmy love loves me.
O! if I was a little birdto build upon his breast;Or if I was a nightingale,to sing my love to rest;To gaze upon his lovely eyes,all my reward should be:For I love my love, because I knowmy love loves me.
O! if I were an eagle,to soar into the sky:I'd gaze around with piercing eyes,Where I my love might spy:But ah! unhappy maiden,that love you ne'er shall see!Ye I love my love because I knowmy love loves me.
Divider from 'The Linnet', a chapbook printed in Falkirk in 1819
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