Robin williamson by weary well lyrics

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'm old with wandering 



By the high roads and the low 



I'll steal his hammer and his nails 



Till he can build no more 







I wish that I were in her bed 



Where I have been before 



Her arms entwined around my neck 



and her fine breasts rising so 



I wish her door was bolted fast 



With two locks and a chain 



and she and I inside to lie 



Safe from the wind and rain 







Sun and fire and candlelight 



To all the world belong 



But the moon pale and the midnight 



Let these delight the strong 



Where wild geese fly across the sky 



Her voice is like the air 



and the midnight dark is in her eyes 



and the night is on her hair