Song, Chant, Poetry, Stories and Satire for the Pagan Community

This entry made: 12/21/1999

Title: Oak and Ash and Thorn
Lyrics by: Rudyard Kipling ("A Tree Song")
Tune: traditional
Date:
Source: http://www2.whidbey.net/~jazzman/marcos/Oak,%20Ash,%20and%20Thorn.txt
Recorded on: "Once Around the Wheel," Ian Corrigan, 1987 (Association for Consciousness Exploration, 1643 Lee Rd #9, Cleveland Heights, OH 44118)
Subject: General

Of all the trees that grow so fair   Old England to adorn,
Greater are none beneath the Sun  Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.

Chorus:	Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs,
	(All of a Midsummer's morn!)
	Surely we sing of no little thing
	In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.

Oak of the clay lived many a day  Or ever Aeneas began.
Ash of the Loam was a lady at home  When Brut was an outlaw man.
Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town  (From which was London born);
Witness hereby the ancientry  Of Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.

(Chorus)

Yew that is old in churchyard-mould  He breedeth a mighty bow,
Alder for shoes do wise men choose  And Beech for cups also.
But when ye have killed, and your bowl is spilled  
And your shoes are clean outworn
Back ye must speed for all that you need  To Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.

(Chorus)

Ellum she hateth mankind, and waiteth  Till every gust be laid
To drop a limb on the head of him  That anyway trusts her shade.
But whether a lad be sober or sad,  Or mellow with ale from the horn,
He will take no wrong when he lieth along  'Neath Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.

(Chorus)

Oh do not tell the Priest our plight,  For he would call it a sin;
But-we have been out in the woods all night,  A-conjuring summer in!
And we bring you news by word of mouth-  Good news for cattle and corn-
Now is the Sun come up from the South  With Oak, and Ash, and thorn!

(Chorus)