Lyrics and notes copied from A Pedlar's Pack of Ballads and Songs by William Hugh Logan (Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1869), page 336:


PICKING LILIES

From a chap copy of "Four excellent new songs, 1. The Captain's Frolic; 2. Picking Lilies; 3. The distressed Sailors on the rocks of Scylla; 4. The Generous Gentleman." Circa 1782.

This is a good specimen of a peculiar kind of ballad, which, some years ago, used to fascinate the minds of sentimental damsels whose notions of poetry were rather limited.

Down in yon meadow fresh and gay,
Picking lilies fresh and gay,
Picking lilies red and blue,
I little thought what love could do.

Where love is planted there it grows,
It buds and blossoms like any rose,
It has such a sweet and pleasant smell,
No flower on earth can it excel.

There is thousands, thousands in a room,
My love she carries the brightest bloom,
She surely is some chosen one,
I will have her or I'll have none.

I saw a ship sailing on the sea,
As deeply loaded as she could be,
But not so deep as in love I am,
I care not whether I sink or swim.

Must I go bound, shall she go free?
Must I love one that loves not me?
Why should I act such a childish part,
As to love one that would break my heart?

I put my hand into a bush,
Thinking the sweetest rose to find,
But I pricked my finger to the bone,
And left the sweetest rose behind.

If roses be such a prickly flower,
They should be gathered when they are green,
For he that weds with an unkind love,
I'm sure he strives against the stream.

If my love were dead and gone to rest,
I'd think on her that I love best,
I'd wrap her up in the linen strong.
And I'd think on her when she's dead and gone.

*

Several songs in the DT contain the phrase "must I go bound":

WATER IS WIDE

GREEN VALLEY

BLUE-EYED BOY