Verses

Chapter 61: FILLE-LA-HAINE

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About This Book

A varied collection of short poems mixing lyric meditation, satire, and balladry. The pieces range from war-tinged reflections and political commentary to convivial drinking songs, devotional verses, and playful dedications to friends and children. Many poems evoke rural and urban scenes with brisk, conversational diction, while others adopt formal stanzaic shapes for narrative effects. Themes include memory, faith, social critique, nature, and companionship, with tone shifting between humor and solemnity. The sequence alternates concise epigrams and longer narrative pieces, united by a rhythmic clarity and a direct, energetic voice that balances spontaneity with careful craft.

FILLE-LA-HAINE

Death went into the steeple to ring,

And he pulled the rope and he tolled a knell.

Fille-la-Haine, how well you sing!

Why are they ringing the Passing Bell?

Death went into the steeple to ring;

Fille-la-Haine, how well you sing!

Death went down the stream in a boat,

Down the river of Seine went he;

Fille-la-Haine had a pain in her throat,

Fille-la-Haine was nothing to me.

Death went down the stream in a boat;

Fille-la-Haine had a pain in her throat.

Death went up the hill in a cart

(I have forgotten her lips and her laughter).

Fille-la-Haine was my sweetheart

(And all the village was following after).

Death went up the hill in a cart.

Fille-la-Haine was my sweetheart.