Bessy Bell & Mary Gray (1)/One morning very early

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THE MAID IN BEDLAM.

One morning very early,
⁠One morning in the spring,
I heard a maid in Bedlam,
⁠Who mournfully did sing,
Her chains she rattled in her hands,
⁠While sweetly thus sung she,
I love my love, because I know
⁠My love loves me.

Oh cruel were his parents
⁠Who sent my love to sea,
And cruel, cruel was the ship
⁠That bore my love from me.
Yet I love his parents since they're his,
⁠Although they've ruin'd me,
And I love my love, because I know
⁠My love loves me.

O should it please the pitying powers,
⁠To call me to the sky,
I'd claim a guardian angel charge,
⁠Around my love to fly,
To guard him from all dangers
⁠How Happy.should I be!
And I love my love, because I know
⁠My love loves me.

I‘ll make a strawy garland,
⁠I‘ll make it wondrous fine,
With roses, lilies, daisies.
⁠I'll mix the eglantine;
And I'll present it to my love,
⁠When he returns from sea,
For I love my love, because I know
⁠My love loves me.

O! if I was a little bird
⁠To build upon his breast,
Or if I was a nightingale.
⁠To sing my love to rest;
To gaze upon his lovely eyes
⁠All my reward should be,
For I love my love because I know
⁠My love loves me.

O if I were an eagle
⁠To soar into the sky,
I‘d gaze around with piercing eyes,
⁠Where I my love might spy;
But ah! unhappy maiden,
⁠That love you ne‘er shall see,
Yet I love my love, because I know
⁠My love loves me.