Classic Poem

And it's forty miles to Nicut Hill,
The nearest way you may go;
But Harry Saunders has taken a wife
That he dares not to bring home.

His mother called to her hired girl,
"Sally, draw me a cup of tea,
For I see my son Harry is coming
To eat a meal with me."

His mother lifted the cup of tea
And touched her lips to the drink;
But never a drop of the poison cup
Of drinking did she think.

Harry took that cup of tea
And put it to his mouth;
He opened his bright red lips,
And the poison went quickly down.

His wife set at Nicut Hill
Waiting for Harry to come;
She called to her own sister dear,
"Has my husband now come home?"

She went up to her room
And put on a riding-skirt;
She went out to the stable old
And saddled her roan steed.

But when she came to Harry's home
The guests were in the hall;
The hearse was standing by the yard,
And the friends were mourning all.

"I've come for none of his gold," she cried,
"Nor for none of his lands so wide;
But his watch and his chain they ought to go
To his own sweet bride."

"You will get none of his gold," his mother said,
"Nor none of his lands so wide;
His watch and his chain I threw in the well,
From his own sweet bride to hide."

And then she kissed his cold white cheeks,
And then she kissed his chin,
And then she kissed his bright red lips,
Where there was no breath come in.

And then she fell upon the floor,
Her head beside the bier;
Her heart did break, it was so sore,
But she shed not any tear.