The Three Ravens

There were three ravens sat on a tree,
They were as black as they might be.

The one of them said to his mate,
'Where shall we our breakefast take?'

'Downe in yonder greene field,
There lies a knight slain under his shield.

'His hounds they lie downe at his feete,
So well they can their master keepe.

'His haukes they flie so eagerly,
There's no fowle dare come him nie.'

Downe there comes a fallow doe,
As great with yong as she might goe.

She lift up his bloudy hed,
And kist his wounds that were so red.

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Twa Corbies

As I was walking all alane
I heard twa corbies making a mane;
The tane unto the t'other say,
"Where sall we gang and dine to-day?"

"—In behint yon auld fail dyke,
I wot there lies a new-slain knight;
And naebody kens that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound, and lady fair.

"His hound is to the hunting gane,
His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame,
His lady's ta'en another mate,
So we may mak our dinner sweet.

"Ye'll sit on his white hause-bane,
And I'll pick out his bonnie blue een;
Wi' ae lock o' his gowden hair
We'll theek our nest when it grows bare

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Winter Solstice

When you startle awake in the dark morning
heart pounding breathing fast
sitting bolt upright staring into
dark whirlpool black hole
feeling its suction

Get out of bed
knock at the door of your nearest friend
ask to lie down ask to be held

Listen while whispered words
turn the hole into deep night sky
stars close together
winter moon rising over white fields
nearby wren rustling dry leaves
distant owl echoing
two people walking up the road laughing

Let your soul laugh
let your heart sigh out

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Since First I saw your Face, Thomas Ford's Music of Sundry Kinds

SINCE first I saw your face I resolved to honour and renown ye;
If now I be disdained I wish my heart had never known ye.
What? I that loved and you that liked, shall we begin to wrangle?
No, no, no, my heart is fast, and cannot disentangle.

If I admire or praise you too much, that fault you may forgive me;
Or if my hands had stray'd but a touch, then justly might you leave
me.
I ask'd you leave, you bade me love; is 't now a time to chide me?
No, no, no, I'll love you still what fortune e'er betide me.

The Sun, whose beams most glorious are, rejecteth no beholder,
And your sweet beauty past compare made my poor eyes the bolder:
Where beauty moves and wit delights and signs of kindness bind me,
There, O there! where'er I go I'll leave my heart behind me!

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My Lady's Tears, John Dowland's Third and Last Book of Songs or Airs

I SAW my Lady weep,
And Sorrow proud to be advanced so
In those fair eyes where all perfections keep.
   Her face was full of woe;
But such a woe (believe me) as wins more hearts
Than Mirth can do with her enticing parts.

   Sorrow was there made fair,
And Passion wise; Tears a delightful thing;
Silence beyond all speech, a wisdom rare:
   She made her sighs to sing,
And all things with so sweet a sadness move
As made my heart at once both grieve and love.

   O fairer than aught else
The world can show, leave off in time to grieve!
Enough, enough: your joyful look excels:
   Tears kill the heart, believe.
O strive not to be excellent in woe,
Which only breeds your beauty's overthrow.

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May in the Green-Wood

IN somer when the shawes be sheyne,
   And leves be large and long,
Hit is full merry in feyre foreste
   To here the foulys song.

To se the dere draw to the dale
   And leve the hilles hee,
And shadow him in the leves grene
   Under the green-wode tree.

Hit befell on Whitsontide
   Early in a May mornyng,
The Sonne up faire can shyne,
   And the briddis mery can syng.

'This is a mery mornyng,' said Litulle Johne,
   'Be Hym that dyed on tre;
A more mery man than I am one
   Lyves not in Christiante.

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A Hymn to the Virgin

OF on that is so fayr and bright
   Velut maris stella,
Brighter than the day is light,
   Parens et puella:
Ic crie to the, thou see to me,
Levedy, preye thi Sone for me,
   Tam pia,
That ic mote come to thee
   Maria.

Al this world was for-lore
   Eva peccatrice,
Tyl our Lord was y-bore
   De te genetrice.
With ave it went away
Thuster nyth and comz the day
   Salutis;
The welle springeth ut of the,
   Virtutis.

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Icarus, Robert Jones's Second Book of Songs and Airs

LOVE wing'd my Hopes and taught me how to fly
Far from base earth, but not to mount too high:
   For true pleasure
   Lives in measure,
   Which if men forsake,
Blinded they into folly run and grief for pleasure take.

But my vain Hopes, proud of their new-taught flight,
Enamour'd sought to woo the sun's fair light,
   Whose rich brightness
   Moved their lightness
   To aspire so high
That all scorch'd and consumed with fire now drown'd in woe they lie.

And none but Love their woeful hap did rue,
For Love did know that their desires were true;
   Though fate frowned,
   And now drowned
   They in sorrow dwell,
It was the purest light of heav'n for whose fair love they fell.

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At Liberty I Sit and See

At liberty I sit and see
Them, that have erst laugh'd me to scorn,
Whipp'd with the whip that scourged me:
And now they ban that they were born.

I see them sit full soberly
And think their earnest looks to hide;
Now, in themselves, they cannot spy
That they or this in me have spied.

I see them sitting all alone,
Marking the steps, each word and look;
And now they tread where I have gone,
The painful path that I forsook.

Now I see well I saw no whit
When they saw well, that now are blind;
But happy hap hath made me quit,
And just judgement hath them assign'd.

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Lusty May

O LUSTY May, with Flora queen!
The balmy dropis from Phoebus sheen
   Preluciand beams before the day:
By that Diana growis green
   Through gladness of this lusty May.

Then Esperus, that is so bricht,
Til woful hairtis castis his light,
   With bankis that bloomis on every brae;
And schouris are shed forth of their sicht
   Through gladness of this lusty May.

Birdis on bewis of every birth,
Rejoicing notis makand their mirth
   Richt plesantly upon the spray,
With flourishingis o'er field and firth
   Through gladness of this lusty May.

All luvaris that are in care
To their ladies they do repair

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