Fair and Tender Ladies Dave Van Ronk

Come all you fair and tender maidens
Take warning how you court your man
They're like a star on a Summer's morning
They'll first appear and then they're gone

If I had known before I courted
I never would have courted none
I'd locked my heart in a chest of silver
And fastened it up with a golden chain

Do you remember our days of courting
When your head was upon my breast?
You could make me believe by the falling of your arms
That the sun rose in the west

I wish I was a little swallow
And I had wings and could fly so high
I'd fly to the arms of my false true lover
And there I'd be covered and to die

But I am not a little swallow
I have no wing and I can't fly
I'll sit and sing in sorrow
And try to pass my troubles by

Come all you fair and tender maidens
Take warning how you court your man
They're like some star on a Summer's morning
They'll first appear and then they're gone