Volume I Part 7 (1/2)
Friar Tuck and Little John are riding down together With quarter-staff and drinking-can and grey goose-feather.
The dead are coming back again, the years are rolled away In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.
Softly over Sherwood the south wind blows.
All the heart of England hid in every rose Hears across the greenwood the sunny whisper leap, Sherwood in the red dawn, is Robin Hood asleep?
Hark, the voice of England wakes him as of old And, shattering the silence with a cry of brighter gold Bugles in the greenwood echo from the steep, _Sherwood in the red dawn, is Robin Hood asleep?_
Where the deer are gliding down the shadowy glen All across the glades of fern he calls his merry men-- Doublets of the Lincoln green glancing through the May In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day--
Calls them and they answer: from aisles of oak and ash Rings the _Follow! Follow!_ and the boughs begin to crash, The ferns begin to flutter and the flowers begin to fly, And through the crimson dawning the robber band goes by.
_Robin! Robin! Robin!_ All his merry thieves Answer as the bugle-note s.h.i.+vers through the leaves, Calling as he used to call, faint and far away, In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.
THE WORLD'S MAY-QUEEN
I
Whither away is the Spring to-day?
To England, to England!
In France they heard the South wind say, ”She's off on a quest for a Queen o' the May, So she's over the hills far away, To England!”
And why did she fly with her golden feet To England, to England?
In Italy, too, they heard the sweet Roses whisper and flutter and beat-- ”She's an old and a true, true love to greet In England!”
A moon ago there came a cry From England, from England, Faintly, fondly it faltered nigh The throne of the Spring in the Southern sky, And it whispered ”Come,” and the world went by, And with one long loving blissful sigh The Spring was away to England!
II
When Spring comes back to England And crowns her brows with May, Round the merry moonlit world She goes the greenwood way: She throws a rose to Italy, A fleur-de-lys to France; But round her regal morris-ring The seas of England dance.
When Spring comes back to England And dons her robe of green, There's many a nation garlanded But England is the Queen; She's Queen, she's Queen of all the world Beneath the laughing sky, For the nations go a-Maying When they hear the New Year cry--
”Come over the water to England, My old love, my new love, Come over the water to England, In showers of flowery rain; Come over the water to England, April, my true love; And tell the heart of England The Spring is here again!”
III
So it's here, she is here with her eyes of blue In England, In England!
She has brought us the rainbows with her, too, And a glory of s.h.i.+mmering glimmering dew And a heaven of quivering scent and hue And a lily for me and a rose for you In England.
There's many a wanderer far away From England, from England, Will toss upon his couch and say-- Though Spain is proud and France is gay, And there's many a foot on the primrose way, The world has never a Queen o' the May But England.
IV