"The Unquiet Grave" (A Poem)

A popular ballad sung on the streets of London during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, “The Unquiet Grave” is a dramatic dialogue between the narrator and the spirit of their deceased paramour. Although several centuries of communal authorship have produced over forty versions of the song, they all possess the same basic story and message.[1] Visiting their beloved’s grave every day for a year, the narrator is eventually confronted by a restless spirit who demands they live their life rather than spend their remaining days on earth perpetually mourning. It is a theme common in many works, from Ecclesiastes to Christina Rossetti’s “Remember.”

“The wind doth blow today, my love,

And a few small drops of rain;
I never had but one true-love,
In cold grave she was lain.

“I’ll do as much for my true-love
As any young man may;
I’ll sit and mourn all at her grave
For a twelvemonth and a day.”

The twelvemonth and a day being up,
The dead began to speak:
“Oh who sits weeping on my grave,
And will not let me sleep?”

“‘Tis I, my love, sits on your grave,
And will not let you sleep;
For I crave one kiss of your clay-cold lips,
And that is all I seek.”

“You crave one kiss of my clay-cold lips,
But my breath smells earthy strong;
If you have one kiss of my clay-cold lips,
Your time will not be long.

“‘Tis down in yonder garden green,
Love, where we used to walk,
The finest flower that e’er was seen
Is withered to a stalk.

“The stalk is withered dry, my love,
So will our hearts decay;
So make yourself content, my love,
Till God calls you away.”[2]

Works Referenced

Koch, Kenneth. Making Your Own Days: The Pleasures of Reading and Writing Poetry. New York: Scribner, 1998.

“The Unquiet Grave.” The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Ed. Francis James Child. Boston, MA: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1885. 236.
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[1] Koch, 161.
[2] “The Unquiet Grave,” 236.