Tandaradei

Under the lime-tree, on the daisied ground,

Two that I know of made their bed;

There you may see, heaped and scattered round,

Grass and blossoms, broken and shed,

All in a thicket down in the dale;

Tandaradei --

Sweetly sang the nightingale.

Ere I set foot in the meadow, already

Some one was waiting for somebody;

There was a meeting -- O gracious Lady!

There is no pleasure again for me.

Thousands of kisses there he took,

-- Tandaradei --

See my lips, how red they look!

Leaf and blossom he had pulled and piled

For a couch, a green one, soft and high;

And many a one hath gazed and smiled,

Passing the bower and pressed grass by;

And the roses crushed hath seen,

-- Tandaradei --

Where I laid my head between.

In this love passage, if any one had been there,

How sad and shamed should I be!

But what were we a doing alone among the green there,

No soul shall ever know except my love and me,

And the little nightingale.

-- Tandaradei --

She, I think, will tell no tale.