Page 97 - the-merry-adventures-of-robin-hood

THE SONG OF THE DESERTED SHEPHERDESS

‘In Lententime, when leaves wax green,
And pretty birds begin to mate,
When lark cloth sing, and thrush, I ween,
And stockdove cooeth soon and late,
Fair Phillis sat beside a stone,
And thus I heard her make her moan:
‘O willow, willow, willow, willow!
I’ll take me of thy branches fair
And twine a wreath to deck my hair.

‘The thrush hath taken him a she,
The robin, too, and eke the dove;
My Robin hath deserted me,
And left me for another love.
So here, by brookside, all alone,
I sit me down and make my moan.
O willow, willow, willow, willow!
I’ll take me of thy branches fair
And twine a wreath to deck my hair.’

‘But ne’er came herring from the sea,
But good as he were in the tide;
Young Corydon came o’er the lea,
And sat him Phillis down beside.
So, presently, she changed her tone,
And ‘gan to cease her from her moan,
‘O willow, willow, willow, willow!

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood