Bonnie Bairns Lyrics

A lady walked in yon wild wood,
Beneath the holly tree,
It was there she saw two bonnie bairns,
There running at her knee.
And the first she pulled a red, red rose,
With hands as soft as silk,
And the next she pulled a lily pale,
With hands more white than milk.
"Why do you pull the red, red rose,
And why the lily white?"
"We need them at the seat of grace,
For the soul of thee tonight."
"Oh bide with me you bonnie bairns,
I'll dress you rich and fine,
And for all the blackbirds in the woods,
You'll eat white bread and wine."
The stars were shooting to and fro,
But the thorns she did abhor,
As the lady followed the bonnie bairns,
For three long hours and more.
"Where do you dwell you bonnie bairns,
I'm woe and weary grown",
"We live where woe it never comes,
In a land to flesh unknown."
They came unto a tree of beech,
Two names carved in the bark,
"Do you see your name carved here lady,
The other lies in the dark."
And she wept in vain and she wept full sore,
For her love laid in the ground,
And she wept until the stars gave way,
'Til the dawn it brought no sound.