To my daughter, Grace,
and my mother, Laura . . .
inspired by our New England ancestor.
Farewell to Newport Town
Farewell, Rhode Island Sound
Just a maiden of 16
What do I know
I love your ocean spray
Dark waves of green and grey
Upon the rocks, they break
Pounding in my soul
Bound for a marriage my father made
To a man who is twice my age
He has a fine estate
Or so I’m told
Yankee Clippers on the bay
Come to take my heart away
Far down to Charleston Town
On Carolina’s coast
Old rag-a-muffin man
Made by my mother’s hands
This and some odds and ends
Are all that I own
Bound for a marriage my father made
To a man who is twice my age
He has a fine estate
Or so I’m told
Far from the sea he lives
In the western wilderness
Where the Alabama sun
Will burn me brown
Bound for a marriage my father made
To a man who is twice my age
He has a fine estate
Or so I’m told

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