It happened one evening at the playing of ball
When first I met Willie, both proper and tall
He was neat, fair and handsome and straight in each limb
There's a heart in my bosom lies breaking for him

"Oh won't you come with me a short piece of the road
To see my father's dwelling and place of abode?"
He could tell by her looks and her languishing eye
That he was the young man she had cherished most high

"There's a spot in my father's garden, lovely Willie," said she
"Where lords, dukes, and earls there wait upon me
But when they are sleeping in a long and silent rest
I'll go with you, lovely Willie, you're the boy I love best"

Her father'd been listening, in ambush he lay
To hear the fond words that these lovers did say
And with a sharp rapier he pierced her love through
And the innocent blood of her lover he drew

The grave was got ready, lovely Willie laid in
The mass, it was chanted to clear his soul of sin
"You, honored father, you may say as you will
But the innocent blood of my love you did spill

So I will go off to some far country
Where I will know no one, and no one know me
There I will wander 'til I close my eyes in rest
For you, lovely Willie, you're the boy I love best"