Page:Early poems of William Morris.djvu/252



Fair Ellayne she walk'd by Welland river,

Across the lily lee:

O, gentle Sir Robert, ye are not kind

To stay so long at sea.

Over the marshland none can see

Your scarlet pennon fair;

O, leave the Easterlings alone,

Because of my golden hair.

The day when over Stamford bridge

That dear pennon I see

Go up toward the goodly street,

'Twill be a fair day for me.

O, let the bonny pennon bide

At Stamford, the good town,

And let the Easterlings go free,

And their ships go up and down.

For every day that passes by

I wax both pale and green,

From gold to gold of my girdle

There is an inch between.

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