Classic Poem

As I walked out one May morning,
One May morning early,
'Twas then I spied a pretty maid
So handsome and so clever.

With my rue, rum, ray
Fol the riddle ay
Whack fa loora lido

Her shoes were black, her stockings white,
And her buckles shone like silver;
She had a dark and rolling eye,
And her hair hung down her shoulders.

" How old are you, my pretty fair maid,
How old are you, my honey?"
She answered me quite cheerfully,
" I am seventeen come Sunday."

" Will you marry me, my pretty fair maid,
Will you marry me, my honey?"
She answered me quite cheerfully,
" I dare not for my mammy.

" If you come down to my mammy's house
When the moon is shining brightly,
Then I'll come down and let you in
And my mammy will not hear me."

I went to her mammy's house
When the moon was brightly shining;
She came down and let me in
And I lay in her arms till morning.

" Oh soldier, will you marry me?
For now's your time or never.
Oh soldier, will you marry me?
Or I'm undone for ever."

And now she is a soldier's wife
And sails across the brine O.
" The drum and fife is my delight
And a merry man is mine O."