The unquiet grave
Language: English
Cold blows the wind to my true love, And a few drops the rain, I never had but one true love, And in greenwood he lies slain, And in greenwood he lies slain. I'll do as much for my true love As any young girl may; I'll sit and weep down by his grave Your days they would not be long. Your days they would not be long. When twelve month were come and gone, This young man he arose "What makes you weep down by my grave, I can't take my repose?" I can't take my repose?" "One kiss, one kiss of your white lips One kiss is all I crave One kiss of your lips And return back to your grave And return back to your grave". "My lips they are as cold as clay, My breath is earthly and strong And if you were to kiss my lilywhite lips, Your days would not be long. Your days would not be long." "My time be long, my time be short, Tomorrow or today, Sweet Christ in Heaven have all my soul And take my life away And take my life away, away."
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ernst Bacon (1898 - 1990), "The unquiet grave", 1970-78. [text not verified]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "The unquiet grave", 1950 [women's chorus], from the cantata Folk Songs of the Four Seasons, no. 4b, (Autumn), Oxford University Press [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Lidy van Noordenburg
This text was added to the website: 2010-01-31
Line count: 30
Word count: 194