O whare hae ye been, my dearest dear,
These seven lang years and more?
O I am come to seek my former vows
That ye promis'd me before.

Awa wi' your former vows, she says,
Or else ye will breed strife;
Awa wi' your former vows, she says,
For I'm become a wife.

I am married to a ship-carpenter,
A ship-carpenter he 's bound;
I wadna he ken'd my mind this nicht
For twice five hundred pound.

[I have seven ships upon the sea
Laden with the finest gold,
And mariners to wait us upon;
All these you may behold.

And I have shoes for my love's feet
Beaten of the purest gold,
And lined wi' the velvet soft
To keep my love's feet from the cold.]

She has put her foot on gude ship-board,
And on shipboard she 's gane,
And the veil that hung oure her face
Was a' wi' gowd begane.

[O how do you love the ship, he said,
Or how do you love the sea?
And how do you love the bold mariners
That wait upon thee and me?

O I do love the ship, she said,
And I do love the sea;
But woe be to the dim mariners
That nowhere I can see!]

She had na sailed a league, a league,
A league but barely twa,
Till she did mind on the husband she left
And her wee young son alsua.

O haud your tongue, my dearest dear,
Let all your follies abee;
I'll show whare the white lillies grow
On the banks of Italie.

She had na sailed a league, a league,
A league but barely three,
Till grim, grim grew his countenance
And gurly grew the sea.

O haud your tongue, my dearest dear,
Let all your follies abee;
I'll show whare the white lillies grow
In the bottom of the sea.

He 's tane her by the milk-white hand
And he 's thrown her in the main;
And full five and twenty hundred ships
Perish'd all on the coast of Spain.