Song from Aella

By Thomas Chatterton

1752-1770

O SING unto my roundelay,
O drop the briny tear with me;
Dance no more at holyday,
Like a running river be:
         My love is dead,
         Gone to his death-bed
All under the willow-tree.

Black his cryne as the winter night,
White his rode as the summer snow,
Red his face as the morning light,
Cold he lies in the grave below:
         My love is dead,
         Gone to his death-bed
All under the willow-tree.

Sweet his tongue as the throstle's note,
Quick in dance as thought can be,
Deft his tabor, cudgel stout;
O he lies by the willow-tree!
         My love is dead,
         Gone to his death-bed
All under the willow-tree.

Hark! the raven flaps his wing
In the brier'd dell below;
Hark! the death-owl loud doth sing
To the nightmares, as they go:
         My love is dead,
         Gone to his death-bed
All under the willow-tree.

See! the white moon shines on high;
Whiter is my true-love's shroud:
Whiter than the morning sky,
Whiter than the evening cloud:
         My love is dead,
         Gone to his death-bed
All under the willow-tree.

Here upon my true-love's grave
Shall the barren flowers be laid;
Not one holy saint to save
All the coldness of a maid:
         My love is dead,
         Gone to his death-bed
All under the willow-tree.

With my hands I'll dent the briers
Round his holy corse to gre:
Ouph and fairy, light your fires,
Here my body still shall be:
         My love is dead,
         Gone to his death-bed
All under the willow-tree.

Come, with acorn-cup and thorn,
Drain my heartes blood away;
Life and all its good I scorn,
Dance by night, or feast by day:
         My love is dead,
         Gone to his death-bed
All under the willow-tree.

DayPoems Poem No. 431
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/431.html">Song from Aella by Thomas Chatterton</a>

The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor

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