Lady Margaret- Couch (TX-OK) pre1964 Moores A
[My title, replacing the generic title. From Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest; Moores, 1964. According to "mark a grave" Mrs. Hallie Barnes Couch was born Jul. 28, 1888 and died Feb. 4, 1977. The Moores info seem to be incorrect- theres no way to accurately gauge the date this was learned.
A. [Lady Margaret] a version of Fair Margaret and Sweet William, sung by Mrs. Hallie Barnes Couch, of Mangum. Mrs. Couch was born in Texas and came to Oklahoma Territory in t892 when she was eighteen years old.
Sweet William rose one morning bright,
And dressed himself in blue;
Sing, "Come tell me of the long-lost love
Between Lady Margaret and you."
"I know nothing of Lady Margaret,
And she knows nothing of me;
But tomorrow morning at eight o,clock,
Lady Margaret my bride shall see."
She threw down her ivory comb,
And tossed back her long, yellow hair;
In she went through her own bower door,
And never more came there.
The day being gone, and the night being come,
When most men are asleep,
Sweet William spied Lady Margaret's ghost,
Standing at his bed's feet.
"How do you like your bed?" she said.
"How do you like your sheets?
And how do you like the fair lady
That lies in your arms asleep?"
"Very well I like my bed," said he,
"Very well I like my sheets;
But better do tr like the fair lady
That is standing at my feet."
The night being gone, and the day being come,
When most men are awake,
Sweet William said he was troubled in his head
From a dream he had last night.
He called his weary waiting maids,
By one, by two, by three;
And the last of all with his bride's consent,
Lady Margaret he went to see.
"Is Lady Margaret in her bowering,[1]
Or in the kitchen hall,
Or is she in her high armchair,
Combing her long, yellow hair?"
"Lady Margaret is neither in her bowering
Nor in her kitchen hall;
But she is in that long, lone box
That sets against the wall."
"Unscrew the screws, move away the lid,
Roll back the winding sheet;
And let me kiss her pale, cold lips,
Whose often have kissed mine."
1. bower room