On the fourteenth of May at the dawn of the day
With my gun on my shoulder to the woods I did stray, oh
In search of some game if the weather proved fair
To see could I get a shot at the bonny black hare
I met a young girl there, as sweet as a rose
An’ her skin was as fair as the lily that blows
I said, “Me young maiden, why ramble you so?
Can you tell me where the bonny black hare do go?”
The answer she gave me, oh, her answer was, “No
But under my apron they say some do grow
And if you’ll not deceivе me, well, I vow and declarе
We’ll go off together to seek the bonny black hare.”
I laid this girl down with her face to the skies
I took out my ramrod and my bullets likewise
And I said, “Lock your legs round’ me, and dig in with your heels
For the closer we get love, the better it feels.”
The birds they was singin’ on the bushes and trees
An’ the song that they sang was, “O, she’s easy to please.”
And I felt her heart quiver, and I knew what I’d done
Says I, “Have you had enough of my old sporting gun?”
The answer she gave me, oh, her answer was, “Nay
It’s not often, young sportsman, that you come this way
But if your powder is good and your bullets play fair
Why don’t you keep firing at the bonny black hare?”
“My powder is wasted, and my bullets all gone
My ramrod is limber, and I cannot fire on
But I’ll be back in the morning, and if the weather is fair
Oh, I’ll take another shot at the bonny black hare.”