When I first come to this country in eighteen and forty-nine I saw many fair lovers but I never saw mine I viewed it all around me, saw I was quite alone And me a poor stranger and a long way from home
Well, my true love she won't have me and it's this I understand For she wants some free holder and I have no land But I couldn't maintain her on silver and gold But all of the other fine things that my love's house could hold
Fair the well to ol' mother, fair the well to my father too I'm going for to ramble this wide world all through And when I get weary, I'll sit down and cry And think of my Saro, pretty Saro, my bride
Well, I wished I was a turtle dove had wings and could fly Far away to my lover's lodgings tonight I'd drawn the line And there in her lily white arms I'd lay there all night And watch through them little winders for the dawning of day