The Happy Marriage and Other Poems/To the Tune of Walsingham
TO THE TUNE OF WALSINGHAM
There is an old-time lovers' song
Of a lost love and untrue,
And one that sought her all along
And in dark and in dew.
And all the world where he should rove
The winding of his way,
He asked them of his false love,
Was she glad, was she gay.
I never heard what man he was
Nor her name that he sought;
Four hundred years is long to pass,
So I said, so I thought.
But yesterday at twilight
Quite quiet as I came,
There stood a withered man and white
And the song was the same;
How should I know your false love
When my own love is true?
Upon your heart you wear her glove
And her rose, and her rue.
How should I know the burning hair
Of your false lovely bride?
It is herself soft standing there
At your heart, at your side.