Historical Folk Lyrics
"The Dowie Dens of Yarrow"

There was a squire lived in the town,
He had one daughter Sarah.
She admired her father's clerk,
The ploughboy John from Yarrow.

As he was going up the lane,
The lane so very narrow,
And there he spied nine hired men
Waiting for his carrow.

Three he drew [or withdrew?] and three he slew
And three he had slightly wounded
And her brother John stepped up behind
To pierce him bodily under.

Go home, go home, you false young man,
And tell your sister Sarah
That the prettiest flower that bloomed in June
Is the man who died in Yarrow.

She said: Brother dear, I had a dream,
I dreamed I was gathering flowers,
I dreamed I was gathering flowers
In the dewy dales of Yarrow.

Sister dear, I can read your dream
That Caused you in fear to sorrow.
The sweetest flowers that bloomed in June
Is the man who died in Yarrow.

Her father said to her one day:
What caused you in grief to sorrow?
She threw herself in her father's arms
And she never saw tomorrow.