The Demon Lover / The House Carpenter (All Night Falls, 2011)
“Well met, well met, my own true love, Long time I have been absent from thee. I am lately come from the salt sea And it's all for the sake, my love, of thee.”
“I have three ships all on the sea And by one of them has brought me to land. I've four and twenty seamen on board And you shall have music at your command.”
She says, “I am now wed to a ship's carpenter, To a ship carpenter I am bound. And I wouldn't leave my husband dear For twice the sum of ten hundred pound.”
“Well I might have a king's daughter, And fain she would have married me. But I forsook her crown of gold And it was all for the sake, my love, of thee.”
“So I pray you leave your husband, dear, And sail away with me. And I'll take you where the white lilies grow All on the banks of Italy.”
“And this ship wherein my love shall sail Is wondrous to behold. The sails shall be of shining silk And the mast shall be of red beaten gold.”
So she dressed herself in her gay clothing Most glorious to behold, And as she trod the salt water's side Oh she shone like glittering gold.
They hadn't sailed a day and a day And a day but barely three, She cast herself down on the deck And she wept and wailed most bitterly.
“Oh hold your tongue, my dearest dear, Let all your sorrows be. I'll take you where the white lilies grow All on the bottom of the sea.”
And as she turned herself roundabout, So tall and tall he seemed to be, Until the tops of that gallant ship No taller were than he.
And he struck the topmast with his hand, The main mast with his knee, And he broke that shining ship in two And he dashed it into the bottom of the sea.