Classic Poem

1.

Come all you jolly lumbermen, I'd have you for to know
The Yankees they'll return no more to drive the Gaspereaux;
You told them all the lies you could; you were their bitter foe;
Bad luck attend those wild galoots who live on Gaspereaux.
2.


You thought to scare those Americans and fill their hearts with fear,
You told them they could not get out their lumber the first year;
But our boss he says, “My brave boys, we'll let those galpins know,—”
And in seven days with his boys so brave, he drove the Gaspereaux.

3.

One of the natives and a daughter, and she was handsome too,
And she was much admired by one of the Yankee crew;
Because she wore a purple dress and a red apron also,
They called her Robin Redbreast on the banks of Gaspereaux.

4.

The first time that I saw this bird she filled me with surprise,
To see such a charming creature appear before my eyes;
I watched her with amazement to see where she did go;
She flew into my arms on the banks of Gaspereaux.
5.

I says, “My pretty fair one, come go along with me,
And I will show you a short cut across this counteree;
I'll dress you up in rich apparel and to the church we'll go,
And we'll leave these dismal scenes behind on the banks of Gaspereaux.”

6.

“O no, O no,” this fair maid says, “I cannot leave my home,—
My sisters, they'd lament for me, and papa he would moan;
But you go and ask my papa, and to the church we'll go,
And I'll be your kind companion on the banks of Gaspereaux.”

7.

The next was to the old man and that without delay,
“I wish to wed your daughter,—an answer, sir, I pray.”
“O yes, O yes,” the old man says, “but from me she can't go.
She can be your kind companion on the banks of Gaspereaux.”

8.

“O no, O no,” the young man says, “this place I cannot bear,
We'll go unto the state of Maine, and we'll be happy there.”
“O no, O no,” the old man says, “It's from me she can't go,
Why can't you live contented on the banks of Gaspereaux?”

9.

“It's now, my lovely Robin, it's you and I must part!”
And little did they know the grief and woe that lay at his troubled heart;
For her hair hung down in ringlets, while the tears from her eyes did flow,
When she parted with her own true love on the banks of Gaspereaux.

10.

Now these true lovers parted and sorely they complain,
For one lives in Gaspereaux and the other in the state of Maine;
The state we roam all over and we'll ramble to and fro,
And we'll think of lovely Robin on the banks of Gaspereaux.

11.

It's now our lumber's rafted and going to St. John,
And when that we get it there, we'll put it in the pond;
We'll drink our health to Robin, the Stars and Stripes also,
Likewise those kind old people we left in Gaspereaux.