Down in the willow garden where me and my love did meet
As we sat a-courtin', my love fell off to sleep
I had a bottle of burgundy wine, my love, she did not know
So I poisoned that dear little girl on the banks below

I drew a saber through her, it was a bloody knife
I threw her in the river which was a dreadful sight
My father oft had told me that money would set me free
If I would murder that dear little girl whose name was Rose Connolly

My father sits at his cabin door, wiping his tear-dimmed eyes
For his only son soon shall walk to yonder scaffold high
My race is run, beneath the sun, the scaffold now waits for me
For I did murder that dear little girl whose name was Rose Connelly