As The Sea
By Beatrice Wedd
My Will was as kind a lord as ever a lord could be.
With cheeks that flushed red,
And dimples so merry,
With eyes as blue as the sea.
And so one day I asked my Will,
Ever so tentatively,
If he could spare but fifty pence,
For one new ribbon for me.
Sea-blue, the ribbon,
Just like his eyes,
I told him all this
—I did not lie.
Yet then, for some reason,
His face flushed red,
And unto me,
This he said;
“Why, you swine,
Would the likes of me,
Get you anything
That wasn’t free?”
Nothing more did he say,
‘Stead pushed me away,
With eyes as fierce as the sea.
So the very next day,
With a face much-abused,
I went into town and looked around,
For a ribbon as blue as the sea.
Found it and bought it,
With money I’d taken,
Went back to the castle,
My heart, it was quakin’!
My lord, he was eating,
His back to the door.
So I crept up behind,
As he shoveled down boar.
Stretched my blue ribbon—
No longer so kind—
Around his fat neck
I did stealthily wind.
He choked and he burbled,
He frothed and he foamed,
And then all at once,
No more did he moan.
Yes yes, indeed,
Quite silent was he.
With his face
As blue as the sea.
