Classic Poem

As I was out walkin' an' a-ramblin' one day,
I spied a fair couple a-makin' their way;
One was a lady and a fair one was she,
An' the other a cowboy, an' a brave one were he.

Says, ‘Where are you goin’, my pretty fair maid?’
‘Jest down by the river, jest down by the shade,
Jest down by the river, jest down by the spring,
See the wild ripplin' water an' hear the nightingale sing.’

They hadn't been there but an hour or so,
Till he drew from his satchel a fiddle and bow;
He tuned his fiddle all on the high string
An' he played this tune over an' over again.

‘Now’, said the cowboy, ‘I should have been gone.’
‘No, no,’ said the pretty maid, ‘jest play one more song.
I'd rather hear the fiddle played on that one string
As to see the water glide an' hear the nightingale sing.’

He tuned up his fiddle and he rosined his bow;
He played her a lecture, he played it all o'er;
He played her a lecture that made the valley ring.
‘Hark! Hark!’ said the fair maid. ‘Hear the nightingale sing.’

She said, ‘Dear cowboy, will you marry me?’
He said: ‘Dear lady, that could never be.
I have a wife in Arizona, an' a lady is she;
One wife on a cow-ranch is plenty for me.

‘I'll go to Mexico, I'll stay there one year;
I'll drink sweet wine an' I'll drink lots of beer.
If I ever return, it will be in the spring,
To see the bright ripplin' water, hear the nightingale sing.’

‘Come all you young maidens, take warning from me;
Never place your affections in a cowboy too free;
He'll go away an' leave you like mine did me;
Leave you to rock cradles, sing ‘Bye-o-babee.’