Mary

'Tis April and the morning love

Awakes in balmy dew
Flowers are the meads adorning love
In yellow white and blue
And if thy heart is true my love
As true it used to be
Then leave thy cot and kye my love
And walk the fields with me

And we will walk the meadow love
And we will walk the grove
And by the winding river love
We'll walk and talk of love
And by the white thorn bushes love
Just budding into green
Where the shaded fountain rushes love
We'll steal a kiss unseen

Where the daisey on the brink my love
Stands peeping in the flood
And the blackcap flies to drink my love
That whistles in the wood
Where the crowflower like the sun my love
Shines in the grass so green
Let's go where waters run my love
And live and love unseen

And live and love unseen my dear
For one sweet April day
Drear winter seems to last a year
While Mary is away
Where we can see and not be seen
By woods or shady grove
Or by the hawthorn's tender green
Let's meet, and live and love

Selected Poems, ed. J.W. and Anne Tibble (Everyman, 1965)