'T was in the merry month of May
When green buds were a-swellin'
Sweet William on his death bed lay
For the love of Barbriallen

He sent his servant to the town
The place where she live dwellin'
Say, "Master dear has sent me here
If your name be Barbriallen?"

And slowly slowly she got up
And slowly she went to him
And all she said when she got there
"Young man I think you're dying"

O don't you remember the other day
When we were in a tavern
You drank your health to the ladies there
And  you slighted Barbriallen

He turned his face onto the wall
He turned his back upon her
"Adieu, adieu to all my friends
Be kind to Barbriallen."

She looked to the east, she looked to the west
She saw his corpse a-comin'
"O put him down for me," she cried
"That I may gaze upon him."

The more she looked the more she grieved
She bursted it out in cryin'
"O pick me up and carry me home
For I feel like I am dyin'."

They buried Sweet Willy in the old church yard
And Barbara in the new one
From Willy's grave there grew a rose
From Barbara's a green briar

They grew and grew on the old church wall
And could not grow no higher
And there they tied in a true love's knot
-The rose bush and the briar