Two Hundred and Thirty Seven

This world seems strange to me now, but it was not always so.  I once felt at home in the world because I had a companion on my journey through it.

I once had a true love, I loved her so well

I loved her far better than my tongue could tell

But her parents they slight me for my want of gear

So it’s good-bye to you, love, my own and my dear

The sunlight around her did sparkle and play

As she went away from me, and this she did say:

“When dew falls on meadow and moths fill the night

When glow of the greesagh on hearth throws half-light

I'll slip from the casement and we'll run away

It will not be long, love, ‘til our wedding day”

So she went away from me and moved through the fair
And fondly I watched her move here and move there

I smiled as she went with her goods and her gear
And that was the last that I saw of my dear

As I went my way homeward, with but one star awake
Like the swan in the evening moves over the lake

I heard people saying “No two ever were wed
But one had a sorrow that never was said”

Last night she came to me, my dead love came in
So softly she stepped that her feet made no din

She laid her hand on me, and this she did say
"It will not be long, love, 'til our wedding day"

I used to pursue her through the fair each night in my dreams, but now I no longer dream.  Who wouldn’t welcome death if they believed there’s an afterlife in which they’ll be reunited with those who made this life worth living?