Album: Red Letter Days

The Oak & The Ash

O the oak and the ash and the bonny birken tree
They flourish at home in her own country

A north-country maid up to London had strayed
Although with her nature it did not agree
She wept and she sighed, and so bitterly she cried:
"I wish once again, in the north I could be"

She doesn't like the court, nor to City resort
Since there is no fancy for such maids as she
Their pomp and their pride she could never abide
Because with her humour it does not agree

How oft has she been on the Westmoreland green
Where the young men and maidens resort for to play
Where they with delight, from morning till night
Could feast it and frolic on each holiday

No doubt, did she please, she could marry with ease
Where maidens are fair, many lovers will come
But he whom she wed must be north-country bred
And carry her back to her north-country home