University of Virginia Library

[The Mountain-song.]

SHE SINGETH.
Now is the rain upon the day,
And every water's wide;
Why busk ye then to wear the way,
And whither will ye ride?

HE SINGETH.
Our kine are on the eyot still,
The eddies lap them round;
All dykes the wind-worn waters fill,
And waneth grass and ground.

SHE SINGETH.
O ride ye to the river's brim
In war-weed fair to see?
Or winter waters will ye swim
In hauberks to the knee?

HE SINGETH.
Wild is the day, and dim with rain,
Our sheep are warded ill;
The wood-wolves gather for the plain,
Their ravening maws to fill.

SHE SINGETH.
Nay, what is this, and what have ye,
A hunter's band, to bear
The Banner of our Battle-glee
The skulking wolves to scare?

HE SINGETH.
O women, when we wend our ways
To deal with death and dread,
The Banner of our Fathers' Days
Must flap the wind o'erhead.

SHE SINGETH.
Ah, for the maidens that ye leave!
Who now shall save the hay?
What grooms shall kiss our lips at eve,
When June hath mastered May?

HE SINGETH.
The wheat is won, the seed is sown,
Here toileth many a maid,
And ere the hay knee-deep hath grown
Your grooms the grass shall wade.

THEY SING ALL TOGETHER.
Then fair befall the mountain-side
Whereon the play shall be!
And fair befall the summer-tide
That whoso lives shall see.