A traditional ballad (Child 68, Roud 47) to which I put a tune in the 1960s, as I didn't have a traditional tune at the time. The lyric is from an American source, but arranged and adapted.
lyrics
“Light down, light down, my own true love,
And stay with me the night;
For I have a bed and a fireside too
And a candle that burns so bright.”
“I can’t light down, nor won’t light down,
Nor stay the night with thee,
For I have a love, and a fairer love
Would think so ill of me.”
Yet he’s bent down from his saddle
For to kiss her snowy white cheek:
And she’s stolen the dagger from out of his belt
And plunged it into him so deep.
She’s taken him by his long yellow hair,
And the maid’s taken him by the feet:
They’ve plunged him into some deep doleful well,
Full fifty fathoms deep.
And as she’s turned her round to go home,
She’s heard some pretty bird sing.
“Go home, go home, you cruel young girl,
And weep and mourn for him.”
“Fly down, fly down, you pretty bird:
Fly down and come home with me,
And your cage shall be made of the glittering gold
And the perch of the best ivory.”
“I can’t fly down, and I won’t fly down,
And I won’t come home with thee,
For you have slain your own true love,
And I fear you’ll murder me.”
“I wish I had my bent horn bow,
And drawn with a silken string:
I surely would shoot that cruel bird
That sits in the briars and sings.”
“I wish you had your bent horn bow,
And drawn with a silken string:
I surely would fly from vine to vine,
And always you’d hear me sing…”
credits
from So Sound You Sleep (More Tears of Morning),
released February 8, 2023
Vocal, tune and guitar by David A. Harley. The words are traditional arranged by David Harley,
David Harley is a former professional musician, administrator, IT security editor, author and researcher, and former much else that is even less impressive. He now lives in Cornwall. More info at whealalice.com