Maid, truly I see now it must be a long way down    And with love's bud shorn    Now must all dalliance hither crumble and wither [1]    Oh strange, methought it strange    Thou couldst deprive me of my crown [2]    And my freedom that thou cast upon me as    Litter bears fruit of bitter strain [3]       And I would go forsooth to the dragon's tooth [4]    If thus a chance were gained    To resurrect that part of your wanton heart    To whose grave my own is chained       And hold, ere thou dost go    Were not thy moments gilded too    And in honesty didst thou not measure for measure    Countenance pleasure    Cold were't thou so cold    This in thy mind be frozen too       And will not Spring be reborn    But might the sun thaw the frost here    That all be not lost herein       And I would rather, Zounds! [5]    It were hell's own hounds    Whose foul breath upon my face    Did portent my doom, than to bear the gloom    Of a world stripped of thy grace       And so in truth I know    Yes it will be a long way down    And if go thou must, ere we should meet accidental    Prithee be gentle [6]    And though distant now    Perchance the hand of time may soothe    And though lost at six, if I should live to be seven [7]    I might forget Stephanie          Notes:       [1] Dalliance: staying around, wasting time    [2] The words 'thou' and 'thee' in this song are the equivalent of current French 'tu' and German 'du' - the familiar form of address which has now died out in English in favour of the universal 'you.'    [3]The album cover has 'litter' although 'linden' seems to be heard on the record. Linden is an old word a tree of family Tiliaceae, e.g. the lime or basswood, although 'litter' does rhyme with and contrast with 'bitter.'    [4] Forsooth: truly, or in truth (Old English)    [5] Zounds: "God's wounds!" - old expletive    [6] Prithee: pray thee = please.    [7] The payoff: at the end of the song we discover that this is a junior school romance...