The True Lover
The lad came to the door at night,
When lovers crown their vows,
And whistled soft and out of sight
In shadow of the boughs.
‘I shall not vex you with my face
Henceforth, my love, for aye;
So take me in your arms a space
Before the east is grey.
‘When I from hence away am past
I shall not find a bride,
And you shall be the first and last
I ever lay beside.’
She heard and went and knew not why;
Her heart to his she laid;
Light was the air beneath the sky
But dark under the shade.
‘Oh do you breathe, lad, that your breast
Seems not to rise and fall,
And here upon my bosom prest
There beats no heart at all?’
‘Oh loud, my girl, it once would knock,
You should have felt it then;
But since for you I stopped the clock
It never goes again.’
‘Oh lad, what is it, lad, that drips
Wet from your neck on mine?
What is it falling on my lips,
My lad, that tastes of brine?’
‘Oh like enough ‘tis blood, my dear,
For when the knife has slit
The throat across from ear to ear
’Twill bleed because of it.’
Under the stars the air was light
But dark below the boughs,
The still air of the speechless night,
When lovers crown their vows.
The poem with the stressed
syllables underlined:
The lad came to the door at night,
When lovers crown their vows,
And whistled soft and out of sight
In shadow of the boughs.
‘I shall not vex you with my face
Henceforth, my love, for aye;
So take me in your arms a space
Before the east is grey.
‘When I from hence away am past
I shall not find a bride,
And you shall be the first and last
I ever lay beside.’
She heard and went and knew not why;
Her heart to his she laid;
Light was the air beneath the sky
But dark under the shade.
‘Oh do you breathe, lad, that your breast
Seems not to rise and fall,
And here upon my bosom prest
There beats no heart at all?’
‘Oh loud, my girl, it once would knock,
You should have felt it then;
But since for you I stopped the clock
It never goes again.’
‘Oh lad, what is it, lad, that drips
Wet from your neck on mine?
What is it falling on my lips,
My lad, that tastes of brine?’
‘Oh like enough ‘tis blood, my dear,
For when the knife has slit
The throat across from ear to ear
’Twill bleed because of it.’
Under the stars the air was light
But dark below the boughs,
The still air of the speechless night,
When lovers crown their vows.
This poem is clearly inspired by folklore:
the dead lover returning to visit his living
lover. In other versions, it is a fairy,
brownie, vampire, or some other sort of
sinister supernatural being that visits the
girl. Usually, the girl cannot see clearly
the being and her danger. The Holland
Handkerchief, a popular song of the
period, has a similar theme. In this case,
the girl cannot see that her boyfriend has
killed himself by cutting his throat (due to
some disappointment with her or their
affair?) The chilling last verse cuts away
from the story just when the girl would
have no doubt let loose a terrified scream.
© C.A. MacLennan 2024
