Never had much to say He traveled alone with no friends Like a shadowy ghost At dawn he came and he went Through the woodland swiftly gliding To the young maid he came gliding Where she'd run to meet him By the garden wall Oh my sweet Miguel I will never tell No one will ever know What I know too well And he'd smile and lay his head on her breast And he'd say I have no fear They're waiting for me to cross the border, to swim the river But I've done that before To see my true love's smiling face A hundred times or more Oh my sweet Miguel she cried I'll love you till I die He was born to the south In Mexico they say The child of a man Who had soon gone away But his mother loved him dearly And she would take him yearly To the great cathedral in St. Augustine Oh my young Miguel Listen to the bell Of my poverty You must never tell And he cried himself to sleep in the night And he vowed to make things right So he took the gun down from the wall and he paid a call He knew she'd understand A lawman came to capture him The gun jumped in his hand Oh Miguel the mother cried You must run son or you'll die
So the story is told Of his true love 'cross the line As strong as the oak And as sweet as the vine And the child she bore him Came on that fateful mornin' When they sent him to his final rest Oh my sweet Miguel Listen to the bell No one will ever know What I know too well And she'd smile and lay the child on her breast And she'd say I have no fear I'm waiting for you to cross the border, to swim the river 'Cause you've done that before To see your true love's smiling face A hundred times or more Oh my sweet Miguel she cried I'll love you till I die