"The Unquiet Grave," anonymous ballad

 

THE UNQUIET GRAVE

A

1  ‘THE wind doth blow today, my love
       And a few small drops of rain;
    I never had but one true-love,
       In cold grave she was lain.

2  ‘I’ll do as much for my true-love
       As any young man may;
    I’ll sit and mourn all at her grave
       For a twelvemonth and a day.’

3  The twelvemonth and a day being up,
       The dead began to speak:
    ‘Oh, who sits weeping on my grave,
       And will not let me sleep?’

4  ‘’Tis I, my love, sits on your grave,
       And will not let you sleep;
    For I crave one kiss of your clay-cold lips,
       And that is all I seek.’

5  ‘You crave one kiss of my clad-cold lips;
       But my breath smells earthy strong;
    If you have one kiss of my clay-cold lips,
       Your time will not be long.

6  ‘’Tis down in yonder garden green,
       Love, where we used to walk,
    The finest flower that ere was seen
       Is withered to a stalk.

7  ‘The stalk is withered dry, my love,
       So will our hearts decay;
    So make yourself content, my love,
       Till God calls you away.’

Source of the text - The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, edited by Francis James Child, Volume II, Part I.  Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1886, page 236.

TJB: Tear-animated. Just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, we hear pure ballad tropes: pining for dead love, voices from beyond, a decaying rose.