The Green Fields and Meadows- (KY) 1907 Pettit JAF
[No informant named- and no notes by Kittredge (he didn't really know this ballad at that time). From: Ballads and Rhymes from Kentucky by G. L. Kittredge; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 20, No. 79 (Oct. - Dec., 1907), pp. 251-277.
This is a version of the "composed" print version dating back to the early 1800s in the US. The title appears similar in a version collected by Eddy.
R. Matteson 2016]
THE GREEN FIELD AND MEADOWS
1. Young men and maids, pray lend attention
Of these few lines I'm going to write,
Of a young youth, no name I'll mention,
Who courted a damsel, a beauty bright.
2. When his old parents came to know it,
They strove against it day and night;
They strove to part him from his jewel,
"She's poor, she's poor," they often cried.
3. She turned her back unto the city,
She walked the green fields and meadows around;
She walked unto some fair broad waters
And under a shady grove sat down.
4. She picked up her silver dagger,
Placed through her snow-white breast;
She said these words and gave a stagger;
"Farewell true love! I'm going to rest."
5. Her love, being out upon the water,
Chanced to hear her dying groan;
He ran, he ran like one distracted:
"I am ruined, I'm lost, I am left alone."
6. She opened her pretty blue eyes upon him,
Saying, "O true love, you've come too late!
But meet me on the old road Zion,
Where all our joys will be complete."
7. He picked up the bloody dagger,
Placed it through his tender heart:
Let this be a sad and sorrowful warning
To all true lovers that have to part.