I AM A YOUTH THAT'S INCLINED TO RAMBLE

I am a youth that's inclined to ramble,
To some foreign country I mean to steer;
I am loath to part from friends and comrades
And my old sweetheart whom I love dear,
But there's one of those I do most admire,
On her I'll think when I'm far away,
For, since fate's decreed, I'm resolved to part her
And try my fortune in America.

"Now farewell, darling, since I must leave you
I put great dependence in your constancy,
That no other young man may gain your favor
Nor change your mind when I'm o'er the sea,
For although the seas do separate us,
And between us they may rise and fa',
If fortune favors me you'll find your Jamie
Returning home from America."

"Oh Jamie dear, do you remember
When I sat with you many an hour,
When my young fancy away was carried?
The bees hummed round us on each opening flower;
But when you're crossing the western ocean,
The maid that loved you, you'll ne'er mind ava,
You'll scarce e'er think on the maids of Erin,
You'll get strange sweethearts in America."

"Oh, Mary dear, I don't dissemble,
To all other fair maids I'll prove untrue,
And if you think that these are false promises,
I'll leave these vows as a pledge to you,
That what I have may prove unsuccessful,
And fortune prove to me a cliddery ba',
That a favoring gale it may ne'er blow on me,
If I forsake you in America."

Now to conclude and end these verses,
May God to protect this young female fair
And keep her from every wild embarrassment
And of my darling take the greatest care.
She's slow to anger, of kind disposition,
Her cheeks like roses in June do blaw,
In my nightly slumbers, when I think on her,
I could court her vision in America.

Sam Henry's source was Jim Carmichael of Ballymena, Co. Antrim.