Servant to a Lady

a ballad

O minstrel, why do you play so sad,
Why so sad, I pray thee?
I pine away for a sweet young maid
A servant to a lady
A servant to a lady

One morning from the road I strayed
And wandered through a woodland fair
Then from within a sunlit glade
I heard a song upon the air

The singer sat beyond the stream
And washed her garments free of grime
Her hair alight with sunrise gleam,
She scrubbed, and sang to keep the time.

O minstrel, why do you play so sad,
Why so sad, I pray thee?
I pine away for a sweet young maid
A servant to a lady
A servant to a lady

She faltered when she noticed me
She stopped her work and broke her rhyme
But in her smile I could see
A heart that beat in matching time.

O maiden, do not stop, I cried
I pray thee, let me play along
You need not cast your work aside
I’ll weave my music to your song.

O minstrel, why do you play so sad,
Why so sad, I pray thee?
I pine away for a sweet young maid
A servant to a lady
A servant to a lady

O come with me, to wander wide
And find our fortune on the road
The midnight stars will be our guide
The turning seasons, our abode

So find a starting note to sing,
And I will play the melody
For I could weather anything
So long as you will come with me

My sweetheart cannot be my wife
Though she so true and willing be
For I must wander all my life
And she must serve her lady
She must serve her lady

O stay with me, the maid replied
To be my heart and build a home
We’ll labour at my lady’s side
As safe as all my lady’s own

So find a starting note to play
And I will sing the melody
For I could work a thousand days
So long as you will stay with me

My sweetheart cannot be my wife
Though she so true and willing be
For I must wander all my life
And she must serve her lady
She must serve her lady

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