The Mummers' Dance

When in the springtime of the year
When the trees are crowned with leaves
When the ash and oak, and the birch and yew
Are dressed in ribbons fair.

When owls call the breathless moon
In the blue veil of the night
When shadows of the trees appear
Amidst the lantern('s) light.

We've been rambling all the night
And sometime of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay.

Who will go down to those shady groves
And summon the shadows there
And tie a ribbon on those sheltering arms
In the springtime of the year.

The sounds of birds seem to fill the wood
And when the fiddler plays
All their voices can be heard
Long past their woodland days.

We've been rambling all the night
And sometime of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay.

And so they linked their hands and danced
'Round in circles and in rows
And so the journey of the night descends
When all the shades are gone.

A garland gay we bring you here
And at your door we stand
Here's a sprout, well budded out
The work of our Lord's hand.

We've been rambling all the night
And sometime of this day
Now returning back again
We bring a garland gay.