Come all you tender girls
That flourish in your prime
Beware, beware keep your garden fair
Let no man steal your thyme
Let no man steal your thyme.
I had a sprig of thyme
It flourished night and day
Till at length there came a false young man
And stole my thyme away
And stole my thyme away.
And now my thyme is gone
And I can plant no new
And in every place where my thyme did grow
Is overrun with rue
Is overrun with rue.
O rue it is a running root
It flourishes night and day
I wish I was in that young man's arms
That stole my thyme away
That stole my thyme away.
O come you false young men
Don't leave me to complain
The grass that's trodden underfoot
In time will rise again
In time will rise again.
Floral key:
Thyme: hope/virginity.
Rue: regret.