The James T. Callow Folklore Archive

The Water Is Wide

The water is wide I cannot get o'er, neither have I wings to fly. Give me a boat that can carry two and both shall cross, my true love and I.

I leaned my back against an oak, thinking it was a mighty tree. But first it bent and then it broke, so did my love prove false to me.

I put my hand in some soft bush, thinking the sweetest flower to find. I pricked my finger to the bone and left the sweetest flower behind.

Oh, love is handsome and love is kind, gay as a jewel when it was new. But love grows old and waxes cold, and fades away like morning dew.

The water is wide I cannot get o'er etc.

Submitter comment:

Originally part of a long Scots ballad "Lord Jamie Douglas." All that remains is the emotional core of the ballad.

Where learned: SCOTLAND ; Joan Baez tape