[footfootfoot]

Rue
Jean Redpath

Come all ye fair and tender girls
That flourish in your prime, prime
Beware, beware keep your garden fair
Let no man steal your thyme, thyme
Let no man steal your thyme.
For when your time it is past and gone
He’ll care no more for you, you
And every place where your time was waste
Shall spread all o’er with rue, rue
Shall spread all o’er with rue
A woman is a branchy tree
and a man a singing wind, wind
And from her branches carelessly
He takes what he can find, find
He takes what he can find.