Transcribed from the 1913 Thomas J. Wise pamphlet by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org. Many thanks to Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library, UK, for kindly supplying the images from which this transcription was made.
the
RETURN OF THE DEAD
and other ballads
by
GEORGE BORROW
London:
printed for private circulation
1913
THE RETURN OF THE DEAD
Swayne Dyring o’er to the island strayed;
And were I only young again!
He wedded there a lovely maid—
To honied words we list so fain.
Together they lived seven years and more;
And were I only young again!
And seven fair babes to him she bore—
To honied words we list so fain.
Then death arrived in luckless hour;
And were I only young again!
Then died the lovely lily flower—
To honied words we list so fain.
The Swayne he has crossed the salt sea way,
And were I only young again!
And he has wedded another may—
To honied words we list so fain.
And he that may to his home has brought;
And were I only young again!
But peevish was she, and with malice fraught—
To honied words we list so fain.