The Lawlands of Holland
The Love that I have chosen
I’ll therewith be content;
The salt sea shall be frozen
Before that I repent.
Repent it shall I never
Until the day I dee!
But the Lawlands of Holland
Have twinn’d my Love and me.
My Love he built a bonny ship,
And set her to the main;
With twenty-four brave mariners
To sail her out and hame.
But the weary wind began to rise,
The sea began to rout,
And my Love and his bonny ship
Turn’d withershins about.
There shall no mantle cross my back,
No comb go in my hair,
Neither shall coal nor candle-light
Shine in my bower mair;
Nor shall I choose another Love
Until the day I dee,
Since the Lawlands of Holland
Have twinn’d my Love and me.
‘Now haud your tongue, my daughter dear,
Be still, and bide content!
There’s other lads in Galloway;
Ye needna sair lament.’
—O there is none in Galloway,
There’s none at all for me:—
I never loved a lad but one,
And he’s drown’d in the sea.
Unknown.