| |
I
LORD LOVEL he stood at his castle-gate, | |
| Combing his milk-white steed, | |
| When up came Lady Nancy Belle, | |
| To wish her lover good speed. | |
| |
II
‘Where are you going, Lord Lovel?’ she said, | 5 |
| ‘Oh where are you going?’ said she. | |
| ‘I’m going, my Lady Nancy Belle, | |
| Strange countries for to see.’ | |
| |
III
‘When will you be back, Lord Lovel?’ she said, | |
| ‘Oh when will you come back?’ said she. | 10 |
| ‘In a year, or two, or three at the most, | |
| I’ll return to my fair Nancy.’ | |
| |
IV
But he had not been gone a year and a day, | |
| Strange countries for to see, | |
| When languishing thoughts came into his head, | 15 |
| Lady Nancy Belle he would go see. | |
| |
V
So he rode, and he rode, on his milk-white steed, | |
| Till he came to London town, | |
| And there he heard St. Pancras’ bells, | |
| And the people all mourning round. | 20 |
| |
VI
‘Oh what is the matter?’ Lord Lovel he said, | |
| ‘Oh what is the matter?’ said he; | |
| ‘A lord’s lady is dead,’ a woman replied, | |
| ‘And some call her Lady Nancy.’ | |
| |
VII
So he order’d the grave to be open’d wide, | 25 |
| And the shroud he turnèd down, | |
| And there he kiss’d her clay-cold lips, | |
| Till the tears came trickling down. | |
| |
VIII
Lady Nancy she died, as it might be, today, | |
| Lord Lovel he died as tomorrow; | 30 |
| Lady Nancy she died out of pure, pure grief, | |
| Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow. | |
| |
IX
Lady Nancy was laid in St. Pancras’ Church, | |
| Lord Lovel was laid in the choir; | |
| And out of her bosom there grew a red rose, | 35 |
| And out of her lover’s a briar. | |
| |
X
They grew, and they grew, to the church-steeple top, | |
| And then they could grow no higher; | |
| So there they entwined in a true-lovers’ knot, | |
| For all lovers true to admire. | 40 |
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