The Mummer's Dance

Intro.: / / / / / /     When in the springtime of the year    When the trees are crowned with leaves        When the ash and oak and the birch and yew    Are dressed in ribbons fair     When owls call the breathless moon    In the blue veil of the night    The shadows of the trees appear    Amidst the lantern light    We’ve been rambling all the night    And some time of this day          Now returning back again                                      / / /      We bring a garland gay     Who will go down to those shady groves    And summon the shadows there         And tie a ribbon on those sheltering arms    In the springtime of the year   The songs of birds seem to fill the wood    That when the fiddler plays    All their voices can be heard    Long past their woodland days       We’ve been rambling all the night    And some time of this day           Now returning back again                                      / / / (2x)    We bring a garland gay    And so they linked their hands and danced    Round in circles and in rows    And so the journey of the night descends    When all the shades are gone       "A garland gay we bring you here    And at your door we stand   It is a sprout well budded out    The work of Our Lord’s hand"   We’ve been rambling all the night    And some time of this day          Now returning back again                                      / / / (2x)    We bring a garland gay