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Gold on her
head, and gold on her feet,
And gold where the hems
of her kirtle meet,
And a golden girdle round my
sweet, -
Ah! qu'elle est belle la Marguerite!
Margaret's maids are fair to see,
Freshly dressed
and pleasantly;
Margaret's hair falls down to her
knee;
Ah! qu'elle est belle la Marguerite!
If
I were rich I would kiss her feet,
I would kiss the
place where the gold hems meet,
And the golden girdle
round my sweet, -
Ah! qu'elle est belle la
Marguerite!
Ah me! I have never touched her hand.
When the arriere-ban goes through the land
Six
basnets under my pennon stand;
Ah! qu'elle est belle
la Marguerite!
And many an one grins under his
hood:
"Sir Lambert de Bois, with all his men good,
Has neither food nor firewood!" -
Ah! qu'elle est
belle la Marguerite!
If I were rich I would kiss
her feet,
And the golden girdle of my sweet,
And
thereabouts where the gold hems meet, -
Ah! qu'elle
est belle la Marguerite!
Yet even now it is good
to think,
While my few poor varlets grumble and
drink,
In my desolate hall where the fires sink, -
Ah! qu'elle est belle la Marguerite!
Of
Margaret sitting glorious there
In glory of gold and
glory of hair,
And glory of glorious face most fair;
-
Ah! qu'elle est belle la Marguerite!
Likewise tonight I make good cheer
Because this
battle draweth near;
For what have I to lose or fear?
-
Ah! qu'elle est belle la Marguerite!
For,
look you, my horse is good to prance
A right fair
measure in this war-dance,
Before the eyes of Philip
of France, -
Ah! qu'elle est belle la Marguerite!
And some time it may hap, perdie,
While my new
towers stand up three and three,
And my hall gets
painted fair to see, -
Ah! qu'elle est belle la
Marguerite!
That folks may say: "Times change, by
the rood!
For Lambert, banneret of the wood,
Has
heaps of food and firewood, -
Ah! qu'elle est belle
la Marguerite!
"And wonderful eyes too, under the
hood
Of a damsel of right noble blood;
St Ives for
Lambert of the Wood!" -
Ah! qu'elle est belle la
Marguerite!
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