| |
| WAKEN, lords and ladies gay, | |
| On the mountain dawns the day; | |
| All the jolly chase is here | |
| With hawk and horse and hunting-spear; | |
| Hounds are in their couples yelling, | 5 |
| Hawks are whistling, horns are knelling, | |
| Merrily merrily mingle they, | |
| ‘Waken, lords and ladies gay.’ | |
| |
| Waken, lords and ladies gay, | |
| The mist has left the mountain gray, | 10 |
| Springlets in the dawn are steaming, | |
| Diamonds on the brake are gleaming; | |
| And foresters have busy been | |
| To track the buck in thicket green; | |
| Now we come to chant our lay | 15 |
| ‘Waken, lords and ladies gay.’ | |
| |
| ‘Waken, lords and ladies gay, | |
| To the greenwood haste away; | |
| We can show you where he lies, | |
| Fleet of foot and tall of size; | 20 |
| We can show the marks he made | |
| When ’gainst the oak his antlers fray’d; | |
| You shall see him brought to bay; | |
| ‘Waken, lords and ladies gay.’ | |
| |
| Louder, louder chant the lay, | 25 |
| Waken, lords and ladies gay! | |
| Tell them youth and mirth and glee | |
| Run a course as well as we; | |
| Time, stern huntsman! who can baulk, | |
| Stanch as hound and fleet as hawk; | 30 |
| Think of this, and rise with day | |
| Gentle lords and ladies gay! | |
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