English Curse

Many years back when the old oaks were young

Not long after the Northmen had come

A low and evil deed was done

In the dark of the New Forest

From the shores of Normandy King William came

To Albion fair, King Harold to slay

With greed in his heart and his scurrilous claim

He took the land for his own

Now John was a blacksmith, an honest old man

He raised up his children and worked with his hands

At his family's forge in the patch of land

In the dark of the New Forest

But King William rode out after his victory

To ravage the land in his hunger to thieve

For hunting grounds in the Wessex trees

He took the land for his own

But if you steal the land of an Englishman

Then you will know this curse

Your first born son's warm blood will run

Upon the English earth

King William's son was called Rufus the Red

He took up the crown when his father was dead

And he rode the hunting grounds in his stead

In the dark of the New Forest

But John's curse it called out and Walt Tyrrell fired low

The arrow struck William with a sickening blow

And he fell from his horse to the ground below

And the land took him for it's own

So if you steal the land of an Englishman

Then you will know this curse

Your first born son's warm blood will run

Upon the English earth

Many years back when the old oaks were young

Not long after the Northmen had come

A low and evil deed was done

In the dark of the New Forest