Come all you tender girls That flourish in your prime Beware, beware keep your garden fair Let no man steal your thyme Let no man steal your thyme. I had a sprig of thyme It flourished night and day Till at length there came a false young man And stole my thyme away And stole my thyme away. And now my thyme is gone And I can plant no new And in every place where my thyme did grow Is overrun with rue Is overrun with rue. O rue it is a running root It flourishes night and day I wish I was in that young man's arms That stole my thyme away That stole my thyme away. O come you false young men Don't leave me to complain The grass that's trodden underfoot In time will rise again In time will rise again.