Rosaleen Gregory, traditional ballad singer
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08-the_gardener.mp3
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The Gardener

Child #219 (The Gardener)  3:04  V & B.

This brush-off is one of many songs that mention garden flowers, often (but not always) with 

reference to their symbolic meanings.

Proud Maisrie stands in her bower door
As slim as a willow wand,
And by there came a gardener child
With a red rose in his hand,
With a red rose in his hand.

  “O you shall have my rose, fair maid,
If you’ll give your flower to me,
And among the flowers in your father’s yard
I’ll make a gown for thee,
I’ll make a gown for thee.

“Your dress shall be the smelling thyme
And your petticoat chamomile,
And your apron of the celandine,
Come kiss, sweetheart, and join,
Come kiss, sweetheart, and join.

“Your feet I’ll shoe with yon red rue
That grows in the garden fine,
And I’ll line them with taraxacum,
So join your love with mine,
So join your love with mine.”
“Since you have made a gown for me
Among the summer flowers,
So I will make a suit for thee
Among the winter showers.

  “The milk-white snow shall be your shirt
And lie your body next,
And the mirk-dark rain shall be your coat
With the wind gale at your breast.

“The bonnet that’s upon your head
Shall be of the mist so grey,
And every time that you pass by
I’ll wish that you were away,
I’ll wish that you were away.”

Rosaleen Gregory: Serpent
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