By Weary Well

Words and music RW 1978

As I came down by the weary well

Going there to fill my can

My fortune there I do declare

She took me by the hand

The lark gives tongue when summer comes

Though time cracks every song

As if newborn and as forlorn

Twas me that loved her long

The willow tree, the willow tree

That Christ cleft for his flocks

I saw the candles burn in the church

and the door of the many locks

The ocean roared against the shore

In the dark before the day

I pulled my coat up round my throat

And I turned my face away

My curses on the carpenter

Who built the doors so strong

That she and me might parted be

and parted be for long

Before I