| |
| THE LAD came to the door at night, | |
| When lovers crown their vows, | |
| And whistled soft and out of sight | |
| In shadow of the boughs. | |
| |
| ‘I shall not vex you with my face | 5 |
| Henceforth, my love, for aye; | |
| So take me in your arms a space | |
| Before the east is grey. | |
| |
| ‘When I from hence away am past | |
| I shall not find a bride, | 10 |
| And you shall be the first and last | |
| I ever lay beside.’ | |
| |
| She heard and went and knew not why; | |
| Her heart to his she laid; | |
| Light was the air beneath the sky | 15 |
| But dark under the shade. | |
| |
| ‘Oh do you breathe, lad, that your breast | |
| Seems not to rise and fall, | |
| And here upon my bosom prest | |
| There beats no heart at all?’ | 20 |
| |
| ‘Oh loud, my girl, it once would knock, | |
| You should have felt it then; | |
| But since for you I stopped the clock | |
| It never goes again.’ | |
| |
| ‘Oh lad, what is it, lad, that drips | 25 |
| Wet from your neck on mine? | |
| What is it falling on my lips, | |
| My lad, that tastes of brine?’ | |
| |
| ‘Oh like enough ’tis blood, my dear, | |
| For when the knife has slit | 30 |
| The throat across from ear to ear | |
| ’Twill bleed because of it.’ | |
| |
| Under the stars the air was light | |
| But dark below the boughs, | |
| The still air of the speechless night, | 35 |
| When lovers crown their vows. | |
| |
