She puts on the garment of tatters and fragments and runs away out of the light
No Lady of leisure but wild like a creature you'd meet on a Midsummer night - oh
When the man she's been waiting for crosses the
Bridge to the manor's own lands, she lets the robe
Part - in two beats of her heart she's fire in his
Hands, oh - she burns in his hands.
The spinning, the weaving, the brewing, the baking
The children, the servants, the giving, the taking
A wife seven years and a mother for five, she thinks
'Look at me, damn you, and prove I'm alive'
She puts on the garment of tatters and fragments and runs away out of the light
No Lady of leisure but wild like a creature you'd meet on a Midsummer night - oh
When the man she's been waiting for crosses the
Bridge to the manor's own lands, she lets the robe
Part - in two beats of her heart she's fire in his
Hands, oh - she burns in his hands.
She tries out the dresses of moonlight and starlight
And everyone stares but she craves only his sight
He's home late and out early every damn day
If he's losing his love for her wouldn't he say?
She puts on the garment of tatters and fragments and runs away out of the light
No Lady of leisure but wild like a creature you'd meet on a Midsummer night - oh
When the man she's been waiting for crosses the
Bridge to the manor's own lands, she lets the robe
Part - in two beats of her heart she's fire in his
Hands, oh - she burns in his hands.
She's learnt and she's learning, they're spending some time now,
The clear broth has thickened, she thinks she knows why now
It's herbs make the difference, the seasoning binds it
She'll wear the coat once more if she can but find it
Where is her garment of tatters and fragments she bundled away out of sight?
She Goes as she is but no less like a creature you'd meet on a Midsummer night - oh
But the man in the tattercoats waits for her
Right at the edge of his lands - he lets the robe
Part - in two beats of his heart, she takes both his
Hands, oh - now she under-
Stands, oh - she's fire in his
Hands, oh - she burns in his
Hands, oh.
Words and Music by & © Talis Kimberley
20.5.2000
Inspired by Mydori Snyder's telling of the tale of the same name in the anthology
'Black Thorn White Rose'