KIRTLE RED

A DAMSEL fair, on a summer’s day— —Sing heigh, sing ho, for the summer! Sat under a tree in a kirtle gray, Singing, “Somebody’s late at tryst to-day; Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Or the leaves may fall in summer!” Answered a little bird overhead— As birds will do in summer; “Some body has kept tryst,” it said, “With somebody else in a kirtle red, And they are going to be marrièd.” Sing heigh, sing ho, for the summer! “With all my heart, little bird,” said she; Sing heigh, sing ho, for the summer! “He’s welcome to kirtle red for me; Somebody’s fast, while somebody’s free! There’s nothing, no, nothing, like libertie!” —Sing heigh, sing ho, for the summer! W. H. Bellamy.