Song of the Milkmaid

From “Queen Mary” SHAME upon you, Robin, Shame upon you now! Kiss me would you? with my hands Milking the cow? Daisies grow again, Kingcups blow again, And you came and kissed me milking the cow. Robin came behind me, Kissed me well I vow; Cuff him could I? with my hands Milking the cow? Swallows fly again, Cuckoos cry again, And you came and kissed me milking the cow. Come, Robin, Robin, Come and kiss me now; Help it can I? with my hands Milking the cow? Ringdoves coo again, All things woo again, Come behind and kiss me milking the cow!

Collection: 
English
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Sub Title: 
III. Love’s Beginnings

More from Poet

  • Locksley Hall

    Comrades, leave me here a little, while as yet ’t is early morn,— Leave me here, and when you want me, sound upon the bugle horn. ’T is the place, and all around it, as of old, the curlews call, Dreary gleams about the moorland, flying over Locksley Hall: Locksley Hall, that in the distance...

  • Lady Clara Vere de Vere

    Lady Clara VERE DE VERE, Of me you shall not win renown; You thought to break a country heart For pastime, ere you went to town. At me you smiled, but unbeguiled I saw the snare, and I retired: The daughter of a hundred Earls, You are not one to be desired. Lady Clara Vere de Vere, I...

  • Rizpah

    17— i. wailing, wailing, wailing, the wind over land and sea— And Willy’s voice in the wind, “O mother, come out to me.” Why should he call me to-night, when he knows that I cannot go? For the downs are as bright as day, and the full moon stares at the snow. II. We should be seen, my dear; they...

  • Charge of the Light Brigade

    [October 25, 1854] HALF a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. “Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!” he said; Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. “Forward, the Light Brigade!” Was there a man dismayed? Not...

  • Hands all Round

    FIRST drink a health, this solemn night, A health to England, every guest: That man ’s the best cosmopolite Who loves his native country best. May Freedom’s oak for ever live With stronger life from day to day: That man ’s the best Conservative Who lops the...