Saw you my father, saw you my mother 
Saw you my true love John? 
He told his only dear that he would soon be here 
But he to another is gone. 

I saw not your father, I saw not your mother 
But I saw your true love John 
He's met with some delay that causeth him to stay 
But he will be here ere long 

When I came to my true love's door 
I gently tirled the pin 
My true love she arose and she slipped on her clothes 
And so softly she let me in 

All the forepart of the night 
We did both sport and play 
And all the last part of the night 
She slept in my arms till day 

Fly up fly up my bonny grey cock 
And crow when it is day 
Your breast shall be like the bonny beaten gold 
And your wings of the silver grey 

The cock he proved false and untrue he was 
For he crew an hour too soon 
My love she thought it day and she hastened me away 
And it proved but the blink of the moon 

The wind it did blow and the cocks they did crow 
As I tripped over the plain 
I wished myself back in my truelove's arms 
And she in her bed again 

@nightvisit @love @ghost @bird 
from Sedley, Seeds of Love. His note below: 
This is a fairly drastic collation of four texts; Herd's (1769), 
Chappell's and two sets collected by Hammond in Dorset. 
This was originally a revenant ghost song (cf. The Demon Lover 
and not the ballad that Child took it to be (no. 248). The final 
stanza which appears in one of the Dorset versions, is clearly a 
descendent of the famous Western Wind fragment. 
The tune is the one usually associated with the Scottish versions, 
with the variant published by Chappell (who thought it might have 
been composed by James Hook, composer of The Lass of Richmond 
Hill 
filename [ GREYCOC2 
Tune file : GREYCOC2