The lover's ghost

Well met, well met, my own true love;
Long time I have been absent from thee;
I am lately come from the salt sea,
And 'tis all for the sake, my love, of thee.

I have three ships all on the salt sea,
And one of them has brought me to land,
I've four and twenty mariners on board,
You shall have music at your command.

The ship wherein my love shall sail
Is glorious for to behold,
The sails shall be of shining silk,
The mast shall be of the fine beaten gold.

I might have had a King's daughter,
And fain she would have married me,
But I forsook her crown of gold,
And 'tis all for the sake, my love, of thee.

Authorship

from Folk poetry or song tradition (Volkslieder) , English folk song, also known as "The Suffolk Miracle", "The Grey Cock", and "The Drowsy Sleeper", title unknown

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) , "The lover's ghost" [chorus], from Four English Folk Songs, no. 4.

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

Notes about green, red, and white dots

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Classical Vocal Repertoire