(1)
Her hair is black, her skin is white –
I'd love to love her every night.
Her hair is black, her skin is yellow –
I'd like to grab her from that fellow.
Her skin is white, her hair is red –
I'd love to stroke her in my bed.
Her skin is beige, her hair is brown –
I'd love to strip her of her gown.
Her skin is pale, her hair is yellow –
A lovely head to share my pillow.
Her skin is black, her hair's a fright –
But ah, that shape, that shape at night!
(2)
Her hair is black, her skin is white –
In such a girl I take delight.
Keep all your blondes with towy hair –
Straw over pink I think not fair;
Nor Chinese girls who dye their crown
Of glossy black a dismal brown.
Contrast it is that gives delight –
Not brown on brown or bright on bright.
Give me a girl whose skin is fair
And black as night her darkling hair;
And let her eyes be perfect blue –
Sweet sapphire, heaven's only hue.
And such a girl indeed I've known –
In dreams at least she was my own.
Her perfect colors won my heart –
But Fate decreed that we must part;
And now indeed her hair is grey:
So Time takes all sweet hues away.