Sir Simon de Montfort Sir Simon de Montford my subject shall bee Once chief of all the great barons was hee Yet fortune so cruelle this lord did abase Now lost and forgotten are he and his race Ah me and ah me Ah me and ah me The rosebud and the briar When the barons in arms did King Henry oppose Sir Simon de Montford their leader they chose A leader of courage undaunted was he And ofttimes he made their enemies flee At length in the battle on Eveshame Plain The barons were routed and Montford was slain Along with the nobles that fell at that tide Was his eldest son Henry, who fought by his side A baron's fair daughter stept forth in the night To find her father who fell in that fight And seeing young Henry where gasping he lay Was moved with pity and brought him away In secret she nurst him and swayed his pain While he elsewhere was believed to be slain At length his fair bride she consented to be And this was thy mother, my pretty Bessie Thus many long winters now have I been The silly blind beggar of Bednan Green And thus have you learned a secret from me That ne'er had been known but for pretty Bessie from the Laurel Music Reader, 1921 SOF
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