A Song Of Sherwood Poem by Alfred Noyes

A Song Of Sherwood

Rating: 3.0


Sherwood in the twilight, is Robin Hood awake?
Grey and ghostly shadows are gliding through the brake,
Shadows of the dappled deer, dreaming of the morn,
Dreaming of a shadowy man that winds a shadowy horn.

Robin Hood is here again: all his merry thieves
Hear a ghostly bugle-note shivering through the leaves,
Calling as he used to call, faint and far away,
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

Merry, merry England has kissed the lips of June:
All the wings of fairyland were here beneath the moon,
Like a flight of rose-leaves fluttering in a mist
Of opal and ruby and pearl and amethyst.

Merry, merry England is waking as of old,
With eyes of blither hazel and hair of brighter gold:
For Robin Hood is here again beneath the bursting spray
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

Love is in the greenwood building him a house
Of wild rose and hawthorn and honeysuckle boughs:
Love is in the greenwood, dawn is in the skies,
And Marian is waiting with a glory in her eyes.

Hark! The dazzled laverock climbs the golden steep!
Marian is waiting: is Robin Hood asleep?
Round the fairy grass-rings frolic elf and fay,
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

Oberon, Oberon, rake away the gold,
Rake away the red leaves, roll away the mould,
Rake away the gold leaves, roll away the red,
And wake Will Scarlett from his leafy forest bed.

Friar Tuck and Little John are riding down together
With quarter-staff and drinking-can and grey goose-feather.
The dead are coming back again, the years are rolled away
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

Softly over Sherwood the south wind blows.
All the heart of England his in every rose
Hears across the greenwood the sunny whisper leap,
Sherwood in the red dawn, is Robin Hood asleep?

Hark, the voice of England wakes him as of old
And, shattering the silence with a cry of brighter gold
Bugles in the greenwood echo from the steep,
Sherwood in the red dawn, is Robin Hood asleep?

Where the deer are gliding down the shadowy glen
All across the glades of fern he calls his merry men--
Doublets of the Lincoln green glancing through the May
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day--

Calls them and they answer: from aisles of oak and ash
Rings the Follow! Follow! and the boughs begin to crash,
The ferns begin to flutter and the flowers begin to fly,
And through the crimson dawning the robber band goes by.

Robin! Robin! Robin! All his merry thieves
Answer as the bugle-note shivers through the leaves,
Calling as he used to call, faint and far away,
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Bonnie Lundgren 31 January 2012

Robin Hood is loved not only in England, and I for one am gladdened by the lilting and jubilant tone of this poem toward him.

17 2 Reply
Nasra Al Adawi 15 March 2005

Very poetic story about Robin Hood...loved it

12 1 Reply
Jan1952@btinternet.com 07 October 2020

Extremely good, Entertaining

0 0 Reply
Doc N 15 September 2018

Read it as a child in Sri Lanka! Bought a newer edition of ft Palgrave’s Golden treasury, & had to look for this online..should have made it into the treasury after 80 years...anyway, Robin Hood was a universal favourite..

1 1 Reply
Kenneth Riggs 13 January 2018

My favourite poem of all time. Takes me back to our verse speaking with our teacher, Miss Hannay, at Napier Intermediate in 1937. Lovely language and beautifully written

5 1 Reply
‘Enneth Riggs 13 January 2018

My favourite poem of all time. Takes me back to Form 2 and verse speaking with our form teacher at Napier Intermediate in 1937. Lovely language and beautifully written. Kenneth Riggs

5 1 Reply
Maid Marian 26 July 2014

I remember this poem from my Junior school days, although as a 10 year old there must have been much that passed me by! I love it now for its rhythm and its echoes of my Robin Hood country childhood.

10 3 Reply
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