my Lord, perchance
Than those of Brittany.â
Then Tristan stayed in thought awhile,
Then smiled and answered me:
âThere is no maid at Isoltâs court
One half as fair as thee.â
My Lord and I upon a hill
Looked out to sea a while.
I doubt not ⦠yet I would I knew
What lay behind his smile â¦
My Lord and I in Brittany
Looked out across the sea,
And oh, his thoughts, his wandâring thoughts,
Were far away from me.
Â
Dark Sheila
S HEILA , dark Sheila, what is it that youâre seeing?
What is it that youâre seeing, that youâre seeing in the fire?
I see a lad that loves me ⦠And I see a lad that leaves me â¦
And a third lad, a Shadow Lad ⦠( and heâs the lad that grieves me )
And whatever I am seeing,
Thereâs no fearing and no fleeing â¦
But whatever I am seeing, it is not my heartâs desire â¦
Sheila, dark Sheila, with whom will you be roaming?
With whom will you be roaming when the summer day has flown?
A lad there is who loved meâbut loves me now no longer,
A lad there is who left me ( and oh! his love grows stronger! )
But wherever I go roaming,
You shall never find me homing,
For wherever I go roaming, I must wander all alone â¦
âSheila, dark Sheila, will you listen to my pleading?
Will you listen to my pleading, will you recompense my pain?
For Iâm the lad who loved you, the lad who so deceived you.
I left you for another girl, and oh! I fear I grieved you!
But if youâll hear my pleading
As across the moor youâre speeding,
Oh! if youâll hear my pleading, Iâll return to you again.â
âSheila, dark Sheila, will you hearken to my calling?
Will you hearken to my calling, as I call from far away?
For Iâm the lad that left you (but never could forget you),
And Iâm the lad that loved you from the very hour he met you!
And if youâll hear my calling
As the shades of night are falling,
Oh! if youâll hear my calling, Iâll be yours alone alway!â
But Sheila, dark Sheila, is out upon the moorland.
Sheâs out upon the moorland where the heather meets the sky!
And the lads shall never find her, for thereâs one walks by her side there,
A Stranger Lad, a Shadow Lad, who would not be denied there â¦
She turned her to his calling
As the shades of night were falling,
She turned her to his calling ⦠and she answered to his Cry â¦
Â
Ballad of the Maytime
T HE King, he went a-walking, one merry morn in May.
The King, he laid him down to rest, and fell asleep, they say.
And when he woke, âtwas even,
(The hour of magic mood,)
And Bluebell, wild Bluebell, was dancing in the wood.
The King, he gave a banquet to all the flowers (save one),
With hungry eyes he watched them, a-seeking one alone.
The Rose was there in satin,
The Lily with green hood,
But Bluebell, wild Bluebell, only dances in the wood.
The King, he frowned in anger, his hand upon his sword.
He sent his men to seize her, and bring her to their Lord.
With silken cords they bound her,
Before the King she stood,
Bluebell, wild Bluebell, who dances in the wood.
The King, he rose to greet her, the maid heâd sworn to wed.
The King, he took his golden crown and set it on her head.
And then he paled and shivered,
The courtiers gazed in fear,
At Bluebell, grey Bluebell, so pale and ghostly there.
âO King, your crown is heavy, âtwould bow my head with care.
Your palace walls would shut me in, who live as free as air.
The wind, he is my lover,
The sun my lover too,
And Bluebell, wild Bluebell, shall neâer be Queen to you.â
The King, he mourned a twelvemonth, and none could ease his pain.
The King, he went a-walking a-down a loversâ lane.
He laid aside his golden crown,
Into the wood went he,
Where Bluebell, wild Bluebell, dances ever wild and free.
Â
The Princess Sings
B RING me my lute and let me
J.A. Konrath, Bernard Schaffer