When in the springtime of the year   When the trees are crowned with leaves   When the ash and oak, and the birch and yew   Are dressed in ribbons fair   When owls call the breathless moon   In the blue veil of the night   The shadows of the trees appear   Amidst the lantern light   We've been rambling all the night   And some time of this day   Now returning back again   We bring a garland gay   Who will go down to those shady groves   And summon the shadows there   And tie a ribbon on those sheltering arms   In the springtime of the year   The songs of birds seem to fill the wood   That when the fiddler plays   All their voices can be heard   Long past their woodland days   We've been rambling all the night   And some time of this day   Now returning back again   We bring a garland gay   And so they linked their hands and danced   Round in circles and in rows   And so the journey of the night descends   When all the shades are gone   "A garland gay we bring you here   And at your door we stand   It is a sprout well budded out   The work of our lord's hand."   We've been rambling all the night   And some time of this day   Now returning back again   We bring a garland gay   We've been rambling all the night   And some time of this day   Now returning back again   We bring a garland gay