The Crow Sat On The Willow by John Clare Lyrics

The crow sat on the willow tree
A-lifting up his wings
And glossy was his coat to see
And loud the ploughman sings
"I love my love because I know
The milkmaid she loves me"
And hoarsely croaked the glossy crow
Upon the willow tree
"I love my love" the ploughman sung
And all the fields with music rung

"I love my love, a bonny lass
She keeps her pails so bright
And blythe she trips the dewy grass
At morning and at night
A cotton dress her morning gown
Her face was rosy health
She traced the pastures up and down
And nature was her wealth."
He sung, and turned each furrow down
His sweetheart's love in cotton gown
"My love is young and handsome
As any in the town
She's worth a ploughman's ransom
In the drab cotton gown."
He sang and turned his furrow oer
And urged his team along
While on the willow as before
The old crow croaked his song
The ploughman sung his rustic lay
And sung of Phoebe all the day

The crow he was in love no doubt
And [so were] many things
The ploughman finished many a bout
And lustily he sings
"My love she is a milking maid
With red rosy cheek
Of cotton drab her gown was made,
I loved her many a week."
His milking maid the ploughman sung
Till all the fields around him rung.