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It was the time when lilies blow,

And clouds are highest up in air,

Lord Ronald brought a lily-white doe

To give his cousin, Lady Clare.

I trow they did not part in scorn;

Lovers long-betrothed were they;

They two will wed the morrow morn—

God’s blessing on the day!

“He does not love me for my birth,

Nor for my lands so broad and fair;

He loves me for my own true worth,

And that is well,” said Lady Clare.

In there came old Alice the nurse,

Said, “Who was this that went from thee?”

“It was my cousin,” said Lady Clare;

“To-morrow he weds with me.”

“O God be thanked!” said Alice the nurse,

“That all comes round so just and fair!

Lord Ronald is heir of all your lands,

And you are not the Lady Clare.”

“Are ye out of your mind, my Nurse, my Nurse,”

Said Lady Clare, “that ye speak so wild?”

“As God’s above,” said Alice the nurse,

“I speak the truth: you are my child.

“The old Earl’s daughter died at my breast;

I speak the truth, as I live by bread!

I buried her like my own sweet child,