As I was walking all alone
I heard two carrion crows cawing
And one said to the other
Where shall we go and dine today?
Where shall we go and dine today?
In behind that old turf wall
I know there lies a newly-killed knight
And nobody knows that he lies there
Except his hawk and his hound and his lady fair
His hawk and his hound and his lady fair
His hawk has gone hunting
His hound to bring the wildfowl home
His lady has taken another mate
So we may make our dinner sweet
So we may make our dinner sweet
You will sit on his white neckbone
And I'll pick out his pretty blue eyes
With many a lock of his golden hair
We'll line our nest when it grows bare
We'll line our nest when it grows bare
Many mourn for him
But none will know where he is gone
Over his white bones when they are bare
The wind will blow for ever more
The wind will blow for ever more
(Note: the phrase "makes mane/makin' mane" occurs twice in the poem, once to describe the sound that the crows make, once to describe the actions of the knight's friends. The literal translation might be something like "makes moaning sounds"; I have translated it as "cawing" in the first case, and "mourning" in the second. The reason that the same phrase is used twice is probably to suggest that the cawing of the crows has a mournful sound to it, and so set the eerie tone of the poem).
As I was walking all alone I heard two carrion crows cawing And one said to the other Where shall we go and dine today? Where shall we go and dine today?
In behind that old turf wall I know there lies a newly-killed knight And nobody knows that he lies there Except his hawk and his hound and his lady fair His hawk and his hound and his lady fair
His hawk has gone hunting His hound to bring the wildfowl home His lady has taken another mate So we may make our dinner sweet So we may make our dinner sweet
You will sit on his white neckbone And I'll pick out his pretty blue eyes With many a lock of his golden hair We'll line our nest when it grows bare We'll line our nest when it grows bare
Many mourn for him But none will know where he is gone Over his white bones when they are bare The wind will blow for ever more The wind will blow for ever more
(Note: the phrase "makes mane/makin' mane" occurs twice in the poem, once to describe the sound that the crows make, once to describe the actions of the knight's friends. The literal translation might be something like "makes moaning sounds"; I have translated it as "cawing" in the first case, and "mourning" in the second. The reason that the same phrase is used twice is probably to suggest that the cawing of the crows has a mournful sound to it, and so set the eerie tone of the poem).