And you must bring the holy priest
That I may sained be;
For I have lived a roving life
Fifty years under the greenwood tree.
And you shall make a grave for me,
And make it deep and wide;
That I may turn about and dream
With my old gun by my side.
And leave a window to the east,
And the swallows will bring the spring;
And all the merry month of May
The nightingales will sing.
THE SUDDEN BRIDAL.
It was a maid lay sick of love,
All for a leman fair;
And it was three of her bower-maidens
That came to comfort her.
The first she bore a blossomed branch,
The second an apple brown,
The third she had a silk kerchief,
And still her tears ran down.
The first she mocked, the second she laughed—
‘We have loved lemans fair,
We made our hearts like the iron stone
Had little teen or care.’
‘If ye have loved ’twas a false false love,
And an ill leman was he;
But her true love had angel’s eyes,
And as fair was his sweet body.
And I will gird my green kirtle,
And braid my yellow hair,
And I will over the high hills
And bring her love to her.’
‘Nay, if you braid your yellow hair,
You’ll twine my love from me.’
‘Now nay, now nay, my lady good,
That ever this should be!’