Traditional
The Butcher Boy
[Verse 1: Steve Romanoff]
In Dublin City, where I did dwell
A butcher boy I loved right well
He courted me my life away
But now with me he will not stay

[Verse 2]
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
I wish I were a maid again
But a maid again, I ne'er will be
'Til cherries grow on an ivy tree

[Verse 3]
I'm wishin' my baby it was born
And smiling on his daddy's knee
This wee poor girl would be dead and gone
With the tall green grass all over me

[Verse 4]
She went upstairs to go to bed
And turning to her mother said
Give me a chair 'til I sit down
And a pend and ink 'til I write down

[Verse 5]
With every word she dropped a tear
With every line, cried Willie dear
Oh, what a foolish girl was I
To be led astray by a butcher boy

[Verse 6]
He went upstairs, through the door he broke
He found her hanging from a rope
He took his knife and he cut her down
And in her pocket these words he found

[Verse 7]
Oh, make my grave large, wide and deep
Put a marble stone at my head and feet
And in the middle a turtle dove
That the world may know I died for love