RECKONING

I heard my love go laughing

Beyond the bolted door,

I saw my love go riding

Across the windy moor,

And I would give my love no word

Because of evil tales I heard.

Let fancy men go laughing,

Let light men ride away,

Bruised corn is not for my mill,

What’ s paid I will not pay,—

And so I thought because of this

Gossip that poisoned clasp and kiss.

Four hundred men went riding,

And he the best of all,

A jolly man for labour,

A sinewy man and tall;

I watched him go beyond the hill,

And shaped my anger with my will.

At night my love came riding

Across the dusky moor,

And other two rode with him

Who knocked my bolted door,

And called me out and bade me see

How quiet a man a man could be.

And now the tales that stung me

And gave my pride its rule,

Are worth a beggar’ s broken shoe

Or the sermon of a fool,

And all I know and all I can

Is, false or true, he was my man.