I was very well pleased with what I knowed,
I reckoned myself no fool--
Till I met with a maid on the Brookland Road,
That turned me back to school.
_Low down--low down!
Where the liddle green lanterns shine--
Oh! maids, I've done with 'ee all but one,
And she can never be mine!_
'Twas right in the middest of a hot June night,
With thunder duntin' round,
And I see'd her face by the fairy light
That beats from off the ground.
She only smiled and she never spoke,
She smiled and went away;
But when she'd gone my heart was broke,
And my wits was clean astray.
Oh! Stop your ringing and let me be--
Let be, Oh Brookland bells!
You'll ring Old Goodman[4] out of the sea,
Before I wed one else!
Old Goodman's farm is rank sea sand,
And was this thousand year;
But it shall turn to rich plough land
Before I change my dear!
Oh! Fairfield Church is water-bound
From Autumn to the Spring;
But it shall turn to high hill ground
Before my bells do ring!
Oh! leave me walk on the Brookland Road,
In the thunder and warm rain--
Oh! leave me look where my love goed
And p'raps I'll see her again!
_Low down--low down!
Where the liddle green lanterns shine--
Oh! maids, I've done with 'ee all but one,
And she can never be mine._
[4] Earl Godwin of the Goodwin Sands (?).