I am a wild and roving lad, A wild and rambling lad I'll be; For I do love a little girl And she does love me.
"O Willie, O Willie, I love you so, I love you more than I do know; And if my tongue could tell you so I'd give the world to let you know."
When Julia's old father came this to know,-- That Julia and Willie were loving so,-- He ripped and swore among them all, And swore he'd use a cannon ball.
She wrote Willie a letter with her right hand And sent it to him in the western land. "Oh, read these lines, sweet William dear. For this is the last of me you will hear."
He read those lines while he wept and cried, "Ten thousand times I wish I had died", He read those lines while he wept and said, "Ten thousand times I wish I were dead."
When her old father came home that night He called for Julia, his heart's delight, He ran up stairs and her door he broke And found her hanging by her own bed rope.
And with his knife he cut her down, And in her bosom this note he found Saying, "Dig my grave both deep and wide And bury sweet Willie by my side."
They dug her grave both deep and wide And buried sweet Willie by her side; And on her grave set a turtle dove To show the world they died for love.