Green Man in the Garden

 

Greenman in the Garden

Green man in the garden

Staring from the tree,

Why do you look so long and hard

Through the pane at me?

Your eyes are dark as holly

Of sycamore your thorns

Your bones are made of elder branch

Your teeth are made of thorns.

Your hat is made of ivy-leaf

Of bark your dancing shoes,

And evergreen and green and green

Your jacket and shirt and trews.

Leave your house and leave your land

And throw away the key,

And never look behind, he creaked

And come and live with me.

I bolted up the window,

I bolted up the door,

I drew the blind that I should find

The green man never more.

But when I softly turned the stair

As I went up to bed,

I saw the green man standing there.

Sleep well, my friend he said.

Charles Causley

Arilx [the greenman is a modern one I saw in St Edmund's cathedral in Bury St Edmunds]