| SEVEN stars in the still water, | |
| And seven in the sky; | |
| Seven sins on the King’s daughter, | |
| Deep in her soul to lie. | |
| |
| Red roses are at her feet, | 5 |
| (Roses are red in her red-gold hair) | |
| And O where her bosom and girdle meet | |
| Red roses are hidden there. | |
| |
| Fair is the knight who lieth slain | |
| Amid the rush and reed, | 10 |
| See the lean fishes that are fain | |
| Upon dead men to feed. | |
| |
| Sweet is the page that lieth there, | |
| (Cloth of gold is goodly prey,) | |
| See the black ravens in the air, | 15 |
| Black, O black as the night are they. | |
| |
| What do they there so stark and dead? | |
| (There is blood upon her hand) | |
| Why are the lilies flecked with red? | |
| (There is blood on the river sand.) | 20 |
| |
| There are two that ride from the south and east, | |
| And two from the north and west, | |
| For the black raven a goodly feast, | |
| For the King’s daughter rest. | |
| |
| There is one man who loves her true, | 25 |
| (Red, O red, is the stain of gore!) | |
| He hath duggen a grave by the darksome yew, | |
| (One grave will do for four.) | |
| |
| No moon in the still heaven, | |
| In the black water none, | 30 |
| The sins on her soul are seven, | |
| The sin upon his is one. | |
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