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Adapted from old ballads
IT was a friar of orders gray | |
| Walked forth to tell his beads; | |
| And he met with a lady fair | |
| Clad in a pilgrim’s weeds. | |
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| “Now Christ thee save, thou reverend friar; | 5 |
| I pray thee tell to me, | |
| If ever at yon holy shrine | |
| My true-love thou didst see.” | |
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| “And how should I know your true-love | |
| From many another one?” | 10 |
| “O, by his cockle hat, and staff, | |
| And by his sandal shoon. | |
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| “But chiefly by his face and mien, | |
| That were so fair to view; | |
| His flaxen locks that sweetly curled, | 15 |
| And eyes of lovely blue.” | |
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| “O lady, he is dead and gone! | |
| Lady, he ’s dead and gone! | |
| And at his head a green grass turf, | |
| And at his heels a stone. | 20 |
| |
| “Within these holy cloisters long | |
| He languished, and he died, | |
| Lamenting of a lady’s love, | |
| And ’plaining of her pride. | |
| |
| “Here bore him barefaced on his bier | 25 |
| Six proper youths and tall, | |
| And many a tear bedewed his grave | |
| Within yon kirkyard wall.” | |
| |
| “And art thou dead, thou gentle youth? | |
| And art thou dead and gone? | 30 |
| And didst thou die for love of me? | |
| Break, cruel heart of stone!” | |
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| “O, weep not, lady, weep not so; | |
| Some ghostly comfort seek; | |
| Let not vain sorrow rive thy heart, | 35 |
| Nor tears bedew thy cheek.” | |
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| “O, do not, do not, holy friar, | |
| My sorrow now reprove; | |
| For I have lost the sweetest youth | |
| That e’er won lady’s love. | 40 |
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| “And now, alas! for thy sad loss | |
| I ’ll evermore weep and sigh; | |
| For thee I only wished to live, | |
| For thee I wish to die.” | |
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| “Weep no more, lady, weep no more, | 45 |
| Thy sorrow is in vain; | |
| For violets plucked, the sweetest showers | |
| Will ne’er make grow again. | |
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| “Our joys as wingèd dreams do fly; | |
| Why then should sorrow last? | 50 |
| Since grief but aggravates thy loss, | |
| Grieve not for what is past.” | |
| |
| “O, say not so, thou holy friar; | |
| I pray thee, say not so; | |
| For since my true-love died for me, | 55 |
| ’T is meet my tears should flow. | |
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| “And will he never come again? | |
| Will he ne’er come again? | |
| Ah, no! he is dead, and laid in his grave, | |
| Forever to remain. | 60 |
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| “His cheek was redder than the rose; | |
| The comeliest youth was he! | |
| But he is dead and laid in his grave: | |
| Alas, and woe is me!” | |
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| “Sigh no more, lady, sigh no more, | 65 |
| Men were deceivers ever: | |
| One foot on sea and one on land, | |
| To one thing constant never. | |
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| “Hadst thou been fond, he had been false, | |
| And left thee sad and heavy; | 70 |
| For young men ever were fickle found, | |
| Since summer trees were leafy.” | |
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| “Now say not so, thou holy friar, | |
| I pray thee say not so; | |
| My love he had the truest heart, | 75 |
| O, he was ever true! | |
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| “And art thou dead, thou much-loved youth, | |
| And didst thou die for me? | |
| Then farewell home; for evermore | |
| A pilgrim I will be. | 80 |
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| “But first upon my true-love’s grave | |
| My weary limbs I ’ll lay, | |
| And thrice I ’ll kiss the green-grass turf | |
| That wraps his breathless clay.” | |
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| “Yet stay, fair lady; rest awhile | 85 |
| Beneath this cloister wall; | |
| The cold wind through the hawthorn blows, | |
| And drizzly rain doth fall.” | |
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| “O, stay me not, thou holy friar, | |
| O, stay me not, I pray, | 90 |
| No drizzly rain that falls on me | |
| Can wash my fault away.” | |
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| “Yet stay, fair lady, turn again, | |
| And dry those pearly tears; | |
| For see, beneath this gown of gray | 95 |
| Thy own true-love appears. | |
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| “Here forced by grief and hopeless love, | |
| These holy weeds I sought; | |
| And here, amid these lonely walls, | |
| To end my days I thought. | 100 |
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| “But haply, for my year of grace | |
| Is not yet passed away, | |
| Might I still hope to win thy love, | |
| No longer would I stay.” | |
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| “Now farewell grief, and welcome joy | 105 |
| Once more unto my heart; | |
| For since I have found thee, lovely youth, | |
| We nevermore will part.” | |
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