Ada, my rarest bulb from the desert valley Your hair of fire and skin of snow Have caused me to the heights of the desert mountains In search of a cure for a rampant fever Your beauty's power has plagued me now I come and scour the land for the desert flower
For beauty and perfume I stake my house and my lands The gold is sleeping in the river but the flower's in my hand With a paler leaf and a broken petal I'll bait the king and queen And to the goldsmith with my flower I'll buy a wedding ring
Tulip, tulip, with one what I did buy Oxen, sheep and wheat and rye And land on the north seaside Tulip, tulip, with one what I did buy The finest dresses man could buy and a pearl for to bait my bride
Then with my rarest bulb to her father's garden And like gold for lamb or wool for clam I gave that man the bulb for his daughter Ada Your heart is mine and it's mine forever And she replied “My faith that lies on yon horizon's Tethered me to the sky”
The match arranged and vows exchanged and the dove flew away The bells spilled out the hollow canyon on our wedding day To me she gave her hand until death do us part But the birds will nest with the one that she has promised her heart
Tulip, tulip, with one what I did buy The bed from which our sons will rise and the window where she cries Tulip, tulip, with one what I did buy A net to catch the birds that fly from the window where she cries
He reaches out and I withdraw Spilling the flowering bribes from his paw The broken petals climbing the walls Stealing my oxygen, no air at all From the bed I hear him call But I answer cooing when the night falls The cotton sword is storming the hall Cutting my vision to no sight at all
I tied the tulip round her neck like a red lead sinker And blindfold her and spin her round and round and round To the banks of the river And then walk my true love in to the rushing water And by her long hair bleeding red hair Pull my love there under until she drown
For beauty and perfume I'd stake my house and my land My love is sleeping in the river but the flower's in my hand With a paler leaf and a broken petal I'll keep her all to me And to the river with my flower I'll hear my true love sing
No water is still my friend Ready to drown Water, water, oh water my kin Carry me out This iron river is mercy at last Die as she laughs For he is waiting where the doves nest My true love
Tulip, tulip, with one what I did buy The veil that parted over my bride And the blue from her bluest eyes Tulip, tulip, with one what I did buy The veil that parted over my bride and her breath as my true love dies