Book of Old English Ballads, A

<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"></SPAN></p> <h2> Barbara Allen's Cruelty </h2> <p>All in the merry month of May,<br/> When green buds they were swelling,<br/> Young Jemmy Grove on his death-bed lay<br/> For love o' Barbara Allen.<br/> <br/> He sent his man unto her then,<br/> To the town where she was dwelling:<br/> "O haste and come to my master dear,<br/> If your name be Barbara Allen."<br/> <br/> Slowly, slowly rase she up,<br/> And she cam' where he was lying;<br/> And when she drew the curtain by,<br/> Says, "Young man, I think you're dying."<br/> <br/> "O it's I am sick, and very, very sick,<br/> And it's a' for Barbara Allen."<br/> "O the better for me ye'se never be,<br/> Tho' your heart's blude were a-spilling!<br/> <br/> "O dinna ye min', young man," she says,<br/> "When the red wine ye were filling,<br/> That ye made the healths gae round and round<br/> And ye slighted Barbara Allen?"<br/> <br/> He turn'd his face unto the wa',<br/> And death was wi' him dealing:<br/> "Adieu, adieu, my dear friends a';<br/> Be kind to Barbara Allen."<br/> <br/> As she was walking o'er the fields,<br/> She heard the dead-bell knelling;<br/> <br/> And every jow the dead-bell gave,<br/> It cried, "Woe to Barbara Allen!"<br/> <br/> "O mother, mother, mak' my bed,<br/> To lay me down in sorrow.<br/> My love has died for me to-day,<br/> I'll die for him to-morrow."<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />