Ballads of Battle/The Green Grass
THE GREEN GRASS
The dead spake together last night,And one to the other said:"Why are we dead?"
They turned them face to face aboutIn the place where they were laid:"Why are we dead?"
"This is the sweet, sweet month o' May,And the grass is green o'erhead—Why are we dead?
"The grass grows green on the long, long tracksThat I shall never tread—Why are we dead?
"The lamp shines like the glow-worm spark,From the bield where I was bred—Why am I dead?"
The other spake: "I've wife and weans,Yet I lie in this waesome bed—Why am I dead?
"O, I hae wife and weans at hame,And they clamour loud for bread—Why am I dead?"
Quoth the first: "I have a sweet, sweet heart,And this night we should hae wed—Why am I dead?
"And I can see another manWill mate her in my stead,Now I am dead."
They turned them back to back aboutIn the grave where they were laid:—"Why are we dead?"
"I mind o' a field, a foughten field,Where the bluid ran routh and red—Now I am dead."
"I mind o' a field, a stricken field,And a waeful wound that bled—Now I am dead."
They turned them on their backs again,As when their souls had sped,And nothing further said.*****The dead spake together last night,And each to the other said,"Why are we dead?"