Kate Rusby – Bonnie Bairns Dadgad (Guitar)

D                    C
A lady walked in yon wild wood,

G                 D
Beneath the holly tree,

D                        C
It was there she saw two bonnie bairns,

G                    D
There running at her knee.

D                          C
And the first she pulled a red, red rose,

G                     D
With hands as soft as silk,

D                         C
And the next she pulled a lily pale,

G                          D
With hands more white than milk.

D                    C
"Why do you pull the red, red rose,

G                D
And why the lily white?"

D                    C
"We need them at the seat of grace,

G                    D
For the soul of thee tonight."

D                    C
"Oh bide with me you bonnie bairns,

G                       D
I'll dress you rich and fine,

D                          C
And for all the blackbirds in the woods,

G                          D
You'll eat white bread and wine."

D                       C
The stars were shooting to and fro,

G                      D
But the thorns she did abhor,

D                        C
As the lady followed the bonnie bairns,

G                        D
For three long hours and more.

D                       C
"Where do you dwell you bonnie bairns,

G                 D
I'm woe and weary grown",

D                     C
"We live where woe it never comes,

G                  D
In a land to flesh unknown."

D                C
They came unto a tree of beech,

G                       D
Two names carved in the bark,

D                                 C
"Do you see your name carved here lady,

G                     D
The other lies in the dark."

D                            C
And she wept in vain and she wept full sore,

G                        D
For her love laid in the ground,

D                      C
And she wept until the stars gave way,

G                           D
'Til the dawn it brought no sound.