ROUNDELAY, SUNG BY THE MINSTRELS IN ELLA.
"O! sing unto my roundelay,
O! drop the briny tear with me;
Dance no more at holiday;
Like a running river be.
My love is dead,
Gone to his death-bed,
All under the willow-tree.
"Black his hair as the winter night,
White his neck as the summer snow,
Red his face as the morning light;
Cold he lies in the grave below.
My love is dead, &c.
"Sweet his tongue as the throstle's note,
Quick in dance as thought can be,
Daft his tabor, cudgel stout;
O! he lies by the willow-tree.
My love is dead, &c.
"Hark! the raven flaps his wing
In the briered dell below;
Hark! the death-owl loud doth sing
To the nightmares, as they go.
My love is dead, &c.
"See! the white moon shines on high—
Whiter is my true love's shroud;
Whiter than the morning sky,
Whiter than the evening cloud.
My love is dead, &c.
"Here, upon my true love's grave,
Shall the barren flowers be laid;
Not one holy saint to save
All the coldness of a maid.
My love is dead, &c.
"With my hands I'll bend the briers
Round his holy corse to gre:[11]
Elfin fairies, light your fires;
Here my body still shall be.
My love is dead,
Gone to his death-bed,
All under the willow-tree.
"Come with acorn-cup and thorn,
Drain my heart's blood all away;
Life and all its good I scorn,
Dance by night, or feast by day.
My love is dead, &c.
"Water-witches, crowned with reytes,[12]
Bear me to your lethal tide.
I die! I come! my true love waits:
Thus the damsel spoke, and died."