O LOVE IS PLEASIN'
(learned from John Jacob Niles)
Oh, Love is pleasin' and love is teasin'
And love's a jewel when it is new
But love grows older and waxes colder
And fades away like the morning dew
Come all you fair and tender maidens
Take warning how you court your men
They're like the stars of a summer's morning
First they appear and then they're gone
If I'd a-knowed before I courted That love had been such a killin' crime I'd a-locked my heart in a box of golden And tied it up with a silver twine.
I left my father, I left my mother,
I left my sister and brother too
I left my friends and all my relations
To cross the ocean for the sake of you
(from miriam berg's folksong collection)