Fare Thee Well My Dearest Dear

Fare thee well my dearest dear, fare thee well, adieu

For I must go to sea for the sake of you

Love, bear a patient heart, for you must bear the smart

Since you and I must part, my turtle dove

You’ll have silver and bright gold, houses and land

What more can you desire? Love, don’t complain

And jewels to your hand, and maids at your command

But you must think on me when I am gone

Your gold shall count as dust when that you are fled

Your absence proves me lost and strikes me dead

And when you are from home, your servants I’ll have none

I’d rather live alone than in company

And so nimbly then she’s dressed, all in man’s attire

All for to go to sea was her heart’s desire

She cut her lovely hair, and no mistrust was there

That she a maiden were all at the time

So to Venice we were bound, with our hearts content

No thought of ship being wrecked, oh, away we went

From London but one day our ship was cast away

Which caused our lives to lay in discontent

For our ship was cast away, misfortune it did frown

For I did swim to shore but she was drowned

Now she lies in the deep in everlasting sleep

Which causes me to weep for evermore