When I was new but sweet sixteen
And beauty all in blooming o,
It's little, little did I think
At nineteen I'd be grieving o.

For the ploughman lads
they're gay young lads
They're false and they're deceiving o
For they'll pack their kit and sign and list
And leave their lasses grieving o

For if I had known what I now know
And taken my mother's bidding o
I would not be sitting here by our fireside
Crying hishiba by bairnie o

For it's hishaba for I'm your ma
And Lord knows where your daddy goes
So it's all take care and you all be beware
Of the young men and the gloaming o.