The water is wide, I cannot get o'er
And neither have I wings to fly,
Give me a boat that will carry two
And I shall row my love and I.

O, down in the meadow the other day,
A-gathering flowers both fine and gay,
A-gathering flowers both red and blue,
I little thought what love could do.

I leaned my back up against some oak
Thinking that it was a trusty tree,
But first he bent and then he broke,
And so did my false love to me.

A ship there is and she sails the sea,
She's loaded deep as deep can be,
But not so deep as the love I'm in,
I know not if I sink or swim.

Oh love is handsome and love is fine,
And love's a jewel when it is new,
But when it's old, it groweth cold,
And fades away like morning dew.

Scotland, arr. Richard Bannan