logo - head Robin Hood statue








Robin Hood Tales

SHERWOOD

by Alfred Noyes

[This well-known early 20th century poem captures the magic of the Robin Hood legend. In addition to this ditty, Noyes also produced a play about Robin Hood.]

      Sherwood in the twilight, is Robin Hood awake?
      Grey and ghostly shadows are gliding through the brake,
      Shadows of the dappled deer, dreaming of the morn,
      Dreaming of a shadowy man that winds a shadowy horn.

      Robin Hood is here again: all his merry thieves
      Hear a ghostly bugle-note shivering through the leaves,
      Calling as he used to call, faint and far away,
      In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

      Merry, merry England has kissed the lips of June:
      All the wings of fairyland were here beneath the moon,
      Like a flight of rose-leaves fluttering in a mist
      Of opal and ruby and pearl and amethyst.

      Merry, merry England is waking as of old,
      With eyes of blither hazel and hair of brighter gold:
      For Robin Hood is here again beneath the bursting spray
      In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

      Love is in the greenwood building him a house
      Of wild rose and hawthorn and honeysuckle boughs:
      Love is in the greenwood, dawn is in the skies,
      And Marian is waiting with a glory in her eyes.

      Hark! The dazzled laverock climbs the golden steep!
      Marian is waiting: is Robin Hood asleep?
      Round the fairy grass-rings frolic elf and fay,
      In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

      Oberon, Oberon, rake away the gold,
      Rake away the red leaves, roll away the mould,
      Rake away the gold leaves, roll away the red,
      And wake Will Scarlett from his leafy forest bed.

      Friar Tuck and Little John are riding down together
      With quarter-staff and drinking-can and grey goose-feather.
      The dead are coming back again, the years are rolled away
      In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

      Softly over Sherwood the south wind blows.
      All the heart of England his in every rose
      Hears across the greenwood the sunny whisper leap,
      Sherwood in the red dawn, is Robin Hood asleep?

      Hark, the voice of England wakes him as of old
      And, shattering the silence with a cry of brighter gold
      Bugles in the greenwood echo from the steep,
      Sherwood in the red dawn, is Robin Hood asleep?

      Where the deer are gliding down the shadowy glen
      All across the glades of fern he calls his merry men--
      Doublets of the Lincoln green glancing through the May
      In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day--

      Calls them and they answer: from aisles of oak and ash
      Rings the Follow! Follow! and the boughs begin to crash,
      The ferns begin to flutter and the flowers begin to fly,
      And through the crimson dawning the robber band goes by.

      Robin! Robin! Robin! All his merry thieves
      Answer as the bugle-note shivers through the leaves,
      Calling as he used to call, faint and far away,
      In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.  


    | BACK TO: Robin Hood's Death | TOP | CONTENTS | FORWARD TO: Dowsing the Demon by Clayton Emery |

    Introductory text copyright, © Allen W. Wright, 1997 - 2004.