rankin family - fair and tender ladies lyrics

come all ye fair and tender ladies, be careful how you court young men.
they're like a star on a summer's morning, they first ap pear and then they're gone.

they'll tell to you some lovin' story, and make you think they love you well,
the way they'll go and court some other, and leave you there in grief to dwell.

if i had known before i courted, that love had been so hard to win,
i'd locked my heart with the keys of golden, and pinned it down with a silver pin.

i wish i was a little sparrow, and i had wings to fly so high,
i'd fly away to my false true lover, and when he'd ask i would deny.

but i am not a little sparrow, i have no wings, neither can i fly,
so i'll sit down to weep in sorrow, and try to pass my troubles on by.