Classic Poem

Say Stranger did you see my love
I prythee tell to me
I left her down in the beechen grove
While I sought the strawberry
& when wild strawberrys I did gain
The woody hills upon
I sought her in the Grove in vain
For the gentle maid was gone

Then prythee stranger kindly say
Did ye see the maid I seek
& tell me what she were I pray
Before that I can speak
O what shes like were hard to say
Kind stranger well I wot
Like the sun where she exists is day
& night where she is not
What cloaths then did this stranger wear
I prythee tell to me
O for her dress I do not care
For nought like her it be
Her gown it was as white as snow
& her kerchief it was green
O stranger tell me if you know
Where my true love was seen

What were her looks that I may know
If I saw the maid ye seek
Oh eyes they were as like the sloe
& rosey was her cheek
& auburn was her curls that fell
Oer a forhead white & high
If I loose the maid I love so well
Kind stranger I mun dye

How did she speak that I may tell
If such one spoke to me
O on the softest music dwell
Of olden minstrelsy
The wild harps softest dittys play
trill
& if ye heard her voice yell say
That it was sweeter still

Then well I wot that I did hear
Beneath a beechen tree
A maiden like your own
Repeat a melody

O stranger further cease
Sad woes on me befall
Ive lost alack my own true love
& heart & joys & all
& well I wot for lost she be
All for this sad mistake