| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. (1863–1944). The Oxford Book of Ballads. 1910. |
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| 154. Lady Alice |
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I
LADY ALICE was sitting in her bower-window, | |
| Mending her midnight quoif, | |
| And there she saw as fine a corpse | |
| As ever she saw in her life. | |
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II
‘What bear ye, what bear ye, ye six men tall? | 5 |
| What bear ye on your shouldèrs?’— | |
| ‘We bear the corpse of Giles Collins, | |
| An old and true lover of yours.’— | |
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III
‘O lay him down gently, ye six men tall, | |
| All on the grass so green, | 10 |
| And to-morrow, when the sun goes down, | |
| Lady Alice a corpse shall be seen. | |
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IV
‘And bury me in Saint Mary’s church, | |
| All for my love so true, | |
| And make me a garland of marjoram, | 15 |
| And of lemon-thyme, and rue.’ | |
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V
Giles Collins was buried all in the east, | |
| Lady Alice all in the west, | |
| And the roses that grew on Giles Collins’s grave, | |
| They reached Lady Alice’s breast. | 20 |
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VI
The priest of the parish he chanced to pass, | |
| And he sever’d those roses in twain; | |
| Sure never were seen such true lovers before, | |
| Nor e’er will there be again. | |
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