Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922.
Tarrant Moss
I
That now is false to me,
And I slew the Reiver of Tarrant Moss
And set Dumeny free.
They are standing all arow—
Twenty knights in the peat-water,
That never struck a blow!
Their flesh shall not decay,
For Tarrant Moss holds them in trust,
Until the Judgment Day.
Ah God, that mine had gone,
Whenas I leaned on my love’s truth
And not on my sword alone!
And not on my naked blade—
And I slew a thief, and an honest thief,
For the sake of a worthless maid.
They have set me up on high,
But the twenty knights in the peat-water
Are luckier than I!
And ever I mourn my loss—
For I struck the blow for my false love’s sake
And not for the Men of the Moss!