And now as the candles shine on us and over,
Full shapely thy feet are, but brown on the floor,
As the bare-footed mowers amidst of the clover
When the gowk's note is broken and mid-June is o'er.
O hard are mine hand-palms because on the ridges
I carried the reap-hook and smote for thy sake;
And in the hot noon-tide I beat off the midges
As thou slep'st 'neath the linden o'er-loathe to awake.
And brown are my feet now because the sun burneth
High up on the down-side amidst of the sheep,
And there in the hollow wherefrom the wind turneth,
Thou lay'st in my lap while I sung thee to sleep.
O friend of the earth, O come nigher and nigher,
Thou art sweet with the sun's kiss as meads of the May,
O'er the rocks of the waste, o'er the water and fire,
Will I follow thee, love, till earth waneth away.
The monk hearkened to him with knitted brow, and as one that liketh
not the speech of his fellow, though it be not wise to question it:
then he went out of the chamber, but left the pair of beads lying in
the window. But Ralph clad himself in haste, and when he was fully clad,
went up to the window and took the beads in his hand, and looked
into them curiously and turned them over, but left them lying there.
Then he went forth also, and came into the forecourt of the house,
and found there a squire of the men-at-arms with his weapons and horse,
who helped him to do on his war-gear.
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