Posthumous Poems/The Worm of Spindlestonheugh

by Algernon Charles Swinburne

THE WORM OF SPINDLESTONHEUGH

Lady Helen sat in Spindlestonheugh
 With gold across her hair;
For every plait was on her head,
 I wot a gold piece was there.

Lady Helen sat in Spindlestonheugh
 With gold across her head;
The green gown on her fair body
 Was woven with gold thread.

Lady Helen sat in Spindlestonheugh
 Wi' silk below her breast;
The best pearl in the queen's girdle
 Was lesser than her least,

 Lady Helen sat in Spindlestonheugh
With silk upon her feet;
 The seams were sewn wi' cloth of scarlet
To keep them frae the weet.

"O wha will keep the keys for me
 Until the lord be hame?
Or wha will ca' his kye for me,
 To see gin ony be lame?"

She hadna bided a month but three
 With silk bands to her side,
When word is come to Lady Helen
 To meet her father's ae new bride.

"Ye'll bring the owsen and the sheep to stall,
 Ye'll bring the kye to stand;
Ye'll set the first key in my girdle,
 The neist key at my hand."

"But gin he has wedded a witch woman
 To work sic teen on me,
I'll come nae mair to Spindlestonheugh
 Till green grow in a dry tree."

And she's done on her braw girdle,
 Between the sun and moon;
And she's done on her kaims of gold,
 Her gold gown and her shoon.

She's tied her hair in three witch knots,
 I wot, abune her bonny een;
And for her hair and her body,
 I wot she might have been a queen.

"I wish the sickle was in the rye,
 And the rye was ower my head;
And aye the next rose I shall gather,
 I wish the white may be the red."

She's tane the keys intil her hands
 Between the red sun and the moon;
The rain ran down upon the grass,
 And stained in her silk shoon.

She's tane the keys to her girdle-tie
 Between the warm sun and the weet;
The rain that was between the grass and rye,
 Ran down upon her feet.

"O whatten a burd is yonder burd
 That shines about her head?"
"It is but Helen my ae daughter
 Has clad hersell wi' red."

"O where gat she thae stones of price,
 The warst might serve a queen?"
"It is but for the summer season
 She's clad hersell wi' green."

Lady Helen knelt upon her knees,
 She knelt upon her yellow hair;
"Hae back your keys, my dear father,
 God give you weel to fare."

Lady Helen knelt into the dust,
 She knelt upon the roadway stane;
"And God you keep, madame, my mither,
 As I shall be your ain."

Out then spak the new-come bride,
 I wot she spak wi' pain and care;
"O some hae gold to weave, Helen,
 And some hae gold to wear."

Out then spak the witch-mother,
 I wot she spak fu' little worth;
"Look where my saddle sits, Helen,
 Ye'll stand against the saddle-girth."

She's tane the red kaims frae her hair,
 The red shoon frae her feet;
She's set her face to the saddle-stirrup,
 That nane should hear her greet.

And aye she ran, and weel she ran
 Till her sides were waxen sair;
And the sun that was upon the ways
 Had burnt her through her hair.

They hadna ridden a mile but three
 When she was fain to bide;
For the blood was come upon her feet
 And the pain upon her side.

And whiles she ran, and whiles she grat,
 In the warm sun and the cold,
Till they came to the bonny castle
 Was bigged upon with gold.

"O see ye not thae towers, Helen,
 Where ye gat meat and wine?
It's I maun ligg in the braw bride-chamber,
 And ye maun ligg wi' swine.

"O see ye not thae halls, Helen,
 Where ye gat silk to wear?
It's I shall hae the gold gowns on,
 When your body is bare."

"O ye'll sit in the braw guest-chamber,
 And ye'll drink white and red;
But ye'll gar them gie me the washing water,
 The meats and the broken bread?"

"Ye'll get nae chine o' the broken loaves,
 The white bread wi' the brown;
Ye'll drink of the rain and the puddle water
 My maids shall cast ye down."

"O ye'll sit in the braw guest-chamber
 Wi' the gowd braids on your hair;
But ye'll gie me a poor coat and a smock
 For my body to wear?

"O I shall ligg i' the trodden straw,
 And ye in a gold bride-bed;
But ye'll gie me a claith to hap my feet,
 And a claith to hap my head?"

"Ye'll get no claith to hap you in,
 Ye'll get no coats of me;
Ye'll get nae mair but a riven smock
 To wear on your body."

And she's ate of the foul swine's meat
 With her saft lips and fine;
She's put her mouth to the rank water,
 Was poured amang the swine.

Never ae word spak Lady Helen,
 Never ae word but twa;
"O gin my mither had hands to help,
 I wad be weel holpen awa'."

Never ae word spak Lady Helen,
 Never ae word but three;
"O gin my mither had lips to kiss,
 Sae weel she wad kiss me!

"She wad kiss me on my ravelled hair,
 The foul cheek and the chin;
She wad kiss me on the weary mouth,
 Where the rank water gaed in."

Out then came the witch mother:
 "What ails ye now to greet?
Here's grass to hap ye dry, Helen,
 And straw to hap ye sweet."

The rain fell frae her feet and hands,
 Frae her lang hair and fine:
"What ails ye at the baked meats, Helen,
 The brown wheat bread and the wine?"

She's turned her by the waist about,
 She's turned her by the knee;
She's witched her body to a laidley worm,
 A laidley worm to be.

"The red fruit shall grow in green river water,
 And green grass in the wet sea,
Ere ye shall come to a fair woman,
 A fair woman to be."

And she's garr'd bigg her seven swine-brows,
 She's made them wide and lang;
She's tane the kail and the meal pocks
 That the foul worm might feed amang.

Aye she roupit and aye she croupit
 And aye she soupit the mair;
And for the breath of her laidley mouth
 The sweet land stank fu' sair.

Word is come to Lady Helen's brother,
 In God's town where he lay,
His father had gatten a braw new bride
 And his sister was stown away.

Word is come to Lord Richard,
 Where he was in God's land,
There were nine men out of the north
 Would fain be to his hand.

"Whatten word is this, ye good sailors,
 This word ye hae to me?
Gin it be a word of the good land,
 A dear word it maun be."

"O there is a worm in Spindlestonheugh,
 A laidley worm to see;
It has the tongue of a maid-woman,
 And a worm's foul body.

"For nine mile out of Spindlestonheugh
 Of grass and rye there is nae routh;
There is sma' routh of the good red corn,
 For the breath of her rank mouth."

"Whatten word is this, ye carlish caitives?
 For this word ye hae to me,
There shall never meat come in my mouth
 Till I be put to sea."

And he's garr'd bigg him a fu' fair ship,
 He's biggit it a' of the rowan tree;
It was neither hasped wi' gowd nor airn,
 To haud it frae the sea.

It was neither hasped wi' gowd nor airn,
 Nor yet wi' siller wan;
But a' the wood it was biggit wi'
 Was of the white rowan.

And they sailed lang, and they sailed sair,
 And they drave ower to south;
And a wind was in the ship's side,
 And a wind in the ship's mouth.

And when he came by Spindlestonheugh
 He's tane the vervein in his hand;
"Now God have heed of the fair ship,
 For we must row to land."

"Have pity of us, O Lord Richard,
 For we dare no further gang."
"Gin I may come by a goodly gallows,
 The best of ye a' shall hang."

But when he saw the seven swine-trows,
 He weened a sair thing to have seen;
And when he saw the laidley worm,
 The tears brast ower in his een.

"O gin ye'll kiss my laidley mouth
 For the love of God's body,
I winna do ye scaith, brother,
 Though I be a foul thing to see."

He's put his mouth to her laidley mouth,
 He's kissed her once and twice;
"I had liever lose God's dear body
 Than kiss this foul worm thrice."

He's put his mouth to her laidley mouth,
 He's kissed her kisses three;
The flesh fell frae her laidley mouth
 And frae her rank body;
And it was but his sister Helen
 Stood at Lord Richard's knee.

She was clad all in the fair red samite,
 Her mouth was red and fair;
There was nae burd in the good land
 That had such yellow hair.

He's tane him to the witch mother
 That sat by her bairn's bed;
The gold was gone in her grey hair,
 Her face was heavy and red.

"O wae be wi' you, ye ill woman,
 And the young bairn at your knee;
There's never a bairn shall die abed
 That comes of your body."

"Now God you save, my fair brother,
 For his dear body that was dead;
Now God you save and maiden Mary,
 That kept me of her maidenhead."

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