Anonymous. A Pastoral Song: 'As I was sitting on the grass'. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1910. The Book of Restoration Verse

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.

A Pastoral Song: ‘As I was sitting on the grass’

Anonymous


AS I was sitting on the grass
Within a silent shady grove,
I overheard a country lass,
Was there bewailing of her love.
‘My love,’ says she,	5
‘Is ta’en from me;
And to the wars is prest and gone;
He’s marched away,
And gone to sea;
Alack! alack! and well-a-day!	10
And left me here alone.

‘My Love, he was the kindest man;
There’s none that’s like him in the town;
He gently takes me by the hand,
And gave me many a green gown.	15
With kisses sweet
He would me treat,
And often sing a roundelay;
And sometimes smile,
Then chat awhile,	20
So that we might the time beguile
A life-long summer’s day.

‘My Love, on May Day, still would be
The earliest up of all the rest;
With scarves and ribbons then would be	25
Of all the crew, he finest drest.
With Morris bells
And fine things else:
But when the pipe began to play
He danced so well,	30
I heard them tell,
That he did all the rest excel,
And bore the bell away.

‘The man that took my Love away,
Was too too harsh, and too severe;	35
I gently on my knees did pray
That he my Love would then forbear.
I offered too
A breeding ewe
And chilver-lamb that were my own;	40
Do what I could,
It did no good,
He left me in this pensive mood,
To sigh, and make my moan.’