Rosabel - Bella Hardy
Beware of your heart
It's cruel and it's careless
More dangerous by far than
The beasts in the wood
Beware wicked thoughts that
Come creeping and crawling
The shadow of dreams
That can never come good
She's the talk of the town
The pride of the valley
Comes out with the sun
And pours gold on the day
She knows all your names
And smiles warm on your faces
But Rosabel's wild
As the briar in May
When each house lay asleep
She's dropped from her window
In a blanket of darkness
Crept out of the town
And she' skipped up to
Faelen Woods picking Dog Roses
No fear of the shadows
That watched all around
She's plucked up her fill
And laughed in the moonshine
In warm summer's evening
She's danced 'cross the moor
First twisting and turning
Then tripping an falling
Lifeless she's lain on
The heather bed floor
When she's woke up
A fire's hot burning
She's tucked in silk sheets
With Lord John watching there
Saying"Sleep beauty sleep
Lose your mind in warm dreaming
You're safe in my home
And well mending with care"
In fever she's burned
But time's proved in healing
Made ready to leave but
Been blocked on the way
"Oh you thief you were wrong
To go picking my roses
And for stealing from me
It's right he that you'll stay"
"Oh John you're so proud
And silent
And stubborn
Much bigger than most
And unkempt it is true
But I've grown fond of your ways
And your quiet woodland keeping
Be I thief or no
I will stay here with you"
It's seven years gone
And seven years married
And seven slow years
She's been counting the hours
"Oh my husband's uncomely
And will not look on me
I long rue the day
I went picking his flowers"
Now take heed young girls
Here's Rosa's undoing;
There's a diary she keeps
Of her sorrows and cares
If you write yourself down
Then you're asking for trouble
It's the nature of words
To be read and be shared
One grey summer's morning
She slipped into town
With excuses of shopping
But for fresh company
Oh and who should be there
But some boys from the army
And James the most charming
In every degree
It isn't by chance
He's strolled past her window
Nor by chance
She's met him out walking alone
And they've tied up there
Love in the long July grasses
'Till with the steal dawn
She's gone tiptoeing home
She's gone to the kitchen
But Lord John's crept after
He's found her at writing
And read just a few lines
Oh he rants and he rages
And tears up the pages
And in the grief of betrayal
She's fled from his cries
She's run for the woods
And he's tried to call after
But the chill death of heartbreak
Has stolen his moan
And she caught in the thorns
Of his wild Dog Roses
There James has found her
Cold dead as the stone
Beware of your heart
It's cruel and it's careless
More dangerous by far than
The beasts in the wood
Beware wicked thoughts
That come creeping and crawling
The shadow of dreams
That can never come good
