Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.

Carlisle

The Sun Shines Fair on Carlisle Wall

By Anonymous

SHE leaned her head against a thorn,

The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa’;

And there she has her young babe born,

And the lyon shall be lord of a’.

“Smile no sae sweet, my bonnie babe,

The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa’;

An ye smile sae sweet ye ’ll smile me dead,”

And the lyon shall be lord of a’.

*****

She ’s howket a grave by the light o’ the moon,

The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa’;

And there she ’s buried her sweet babe in,

And the lyon shall be lord of a’.

As she was going to the church,

The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa’;

She saw a sweet babe in the porch,

And the lyon shall be lord of a’.

“O bonnie babe, an ye were mine,

The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa’;

I ’d clead you in silk and sabelline,”—

And the lyon shall be lord of a’.”

“O mother mine, when I was thine,

The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa’;

To me ye were na half sae kind,

And the lyon shall be lord of a’.

“But now I ’m in the heavens hie,

The sun shines fair on Carlisle wa’;

And ye have the pains of hell to dree”—

And the lyon shall be lord of a’.