Page:Poems and ballads (IA poemsballads00swinrich).pdf/338

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
320
MADONNA MIA.

This was my lady’s birth;
God gave her might and mirth
And laid his whole sweet earth
Between her hands.

Under deep apple-boughs
My lady hath her house;
She wears upon her brows
The flower thereof;
All saying but what God saith
To her is as vain breath;
She is more strong than death,
Being strong as love.