Bright Phoebe

Bright Phoebe was my true love's name,
So fair a girl that ever was seen;
So fair a girl that ever was seen,
If you'd travel this wide world over.

She and I we did agree,
That married shortly we would be;
As soon as I returned from sea,
We would settle that solemn bargain.

But before I did return from sea,
My lovely damsel was slain from me;
The pride and glory of my heart,
In her cold grave lay mouldering.

I am forsaken, I am forlorn,
I wish to God I had never been born;
I'd have died before the billows' roar,
Since fortune had proved so cruel.

I will go down to some silent place,
Where no other man shall behold my face;
I'll spend the remainder of my days,
Lamenting for bright Phoebe.

####.... Author unknown. Variant of an entry made in 1847 by William Histed in his journal on board the Cortes out of New Bedford, MA, archived at the New Bedford Public Library ....####

Collected in 1959 from Mrs. Charlotte Decker of Parson's Pond, NL, by Ken Peacock and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 2, pp.434-435, by The National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.

Kenneth Peacock also collected similar but not identical variants in 1960 from Leonard Hulan of Jeffrey's, NL, and Mrs. Freeman Bennett [1908-2006] of St. Paul's, NL.

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