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Scarborough Fair -- Anonymous

       
(Poem #7) Scarborough Fair
Are you going to Scarborough fair?
    (Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme)
Remember me to one who lives there;
She once was a true love of mine.

Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
    (Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme)
Without no seams, nor needlework;
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

Tell her to find me an acre of land
    (Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme)
Between the salt water and the sea strand;
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather
    (Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme)
And gather it all with a rope made of heather;
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

Are you going to Scarborough fair?
    (Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme)
Remember me to one who lives there;
She once was a true love of mine.
-- Anonymous
The ballad form is one of my favourites, and this poem is an excellent
example of one. The use of a refrain (in the second and fourth lines of
each stanza) is typical of the genre, as is the poignancy of the lyrics.

Of course, the fact that Simon & Garfunkel have recorded a truly sublime
acoustic version of this song helps :-).

thomas.

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