Robin Williamson

By weary well

Robin Williamson


As I came down by the weary well 
Going there to fill my can 
My fortune there I do declare 
She took me by the hand 
The lark gives tongue when summer comes 
Though time cracks every song 
As if newborn and as forlorn 
Twas me that loved her long 

The willow tree, the willow tree 
That Christ cleft for his flocks 
I saw the candles burn in the church 
and the door of the many locks 
The ocean roared against the shore 
In the dark before the day 
I pulled my coat up round my throat 
And I turned my face away 

My curses on the carpenter 
Who built the doors so strong 
That she and me might parted be 
and parted be for long 
Before I´m old with wandering 
By the high roads and the low 
I´ll steal his hammer and his nails 
Till he can build no more 

I wish that I were in her bed 
Where I have been before 
Her arms entwined around my neck 
and her fine breasts rising so 
I wish her door was bolted fast 
With two locks and a chain 
and she and I inside to lie 
Safe from the wind and rain 

Sun and fire and candlelight 
To all the world belong 
But the moon pale and the midnight 
Let these delight the strong 
Where wild geese fly across the sky 
Her voice is like the air 
and the midnight dark is in her eyes 
and the night is on her hair