The Lowlands of Holland
Source: Where Songs Do Thunder by Paddy Tunney
Location: New Edition, page 180 / 181
The night that I was married and lay in marriage bed,
Up came the bauld sea captain and stood at my bedhead.
Saying: ‘Rise, arise new wedded man and come along with me
To the lowlands of Holland for to face you enemy.’
‘For Holland is a lovely land and in it grows fine grain.
It is a place of residence for soldiers to remain,
Where the sugar cane grows plentiful, and the tea grows on each tree.’
I never had but the one sweetheart; he is far abroad from me.
Said the mother to the daughter: ‘Leave off your sore lament.
There’s men enough in Galloway to be your heart’s content.’
‘There’s men enough in Galloway, but alas there’s none for me,
Since the high winds and stormy seas do part my love and me.’
For the stormy winds began to blow and the seas did loudly roar,
And the captain or his gallant ship was never seen no more.
‘I will wear no stays around my waist, no combs all in my hair.
No handkerchiefs about my neck to hide my beauty fair.
And neither will I marry love until the day I die,
Since the high winds and stormy seas do part my love and I.’
For the stormy winds began to blow and the seas did loudly roar,
And the captain or his gallant ship was never seen no more.