I'll Hang My Harp

I'll hang my harp on a willow tree
I'm off to the war again
My peaceful home holds no charms for me
Nor the battlefield no pain

The lady I love she will soon be a bride
With a diadem on her brow
O why did she flatter my boyish pride?
She's going to leave me now

She took me away from my warlike lord
She gave me a silken suit
I thought no more of my master's sword
But played with my lady's lute

She seemed to think me a boy above
Her pages of low degree
But if I had loved with a boyish love
It would have been better for me

I'll hide in my breast every selfish care
I'll flush my pale cheeks with wine
And when smiles await the bridal pair
I'll hasten to give them mine

I'll laugh and I'll sing though my heart may bleed
I'll walk in the festive train
And if I survive it, I'll mount my steed
And off to the war again

One golden tress of her hair I'll twine
In my helmet's sable plume
Then on the fields of Palestine
I'll seek an early doom

And if by the Saracen's hand I fall
'Midst the noble and the brave
A tear from the lady I love is all
I'll ask, for a warrior's grave.