Lily of the West

When first I came to Louisville, my fortune there to find.

 

A damsel there from Lexington was pleasing to my mind.

 

Her rosy cheeks, her ruby lips like arrows pierced my breast

 

And the name she bore was Flora the Lily of the West.

 

I courted lovely Flora some pleasure there to find

But she turned unto another man which sore distressed my mind

She robbed me of my liberty, deprived me- of my rest

Then go my lovely Flora, the Lily of the West.

 

Way down in yonder shady grove, a man of high degree,

Conversing with my Flora there, it seemed so strange to me

And the answer that she gave to him it sore did me oppress

I was betrayed by Flora, the Lily of the West.

 

I stepped up to my rival, my dagger in my hand

I seized him by the collar and I boldly bade him stand

Being mad to desperation I pierced him in the breast

I killed a man for Flora, the Lily of the West.

 

I had to stand my trial, I had to make my plea

They placed me in a criminal box and there convicted me

Although she swore my life away, deprived me of my rest,

Still I love my faithless Flora, the Lily of the West.

 

 

 

Lily of the West" is a traditional American folk song (there are older versions known in the west of Ireland,

from which the US song was derived) about a man who travels to Louisville and falls in love with a woman

named Mary, or Flora, the eponymous Lily of the West. www.wikipedia.org. Roud Folk Song Index #957