THE UNQUIET GRAVE

 

THE   UNQUIET  GRAVE

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 beath smells earthly 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 ere was seen

Is withered to a stalk.

 

“The stalk is wither’d dry, my love,

So will our hearts decay ;

So, make yourself content, my love,

Till God calls you away.

 

            This ballad is a fourteenth century composition of an unknown poet.  It is a folk song that has been recited even in modern times by singers like Luke Kelly. The answer-question form of the song lends it a special charm.  According to interpreters this ballad is based on the belief that graves of dead persons become “unquiet”. And the restless ghosts enact an angry or violent haunting because excessive grief prevents their leaving the earth. This belief is an ancient one, far older than the poem.  The mourner in the ballad  who mourned one year and a day  refuses to accept that his time is  is up, and as a result, “the dead began to speak”.

  

            This six centuries old ballad is an all-time relevant folk composition because of its three permanent themes of love, life and  death.

 

            First, the lover’s claim “I never had but one true-love”. This makes him incurably restless.  He can’t fill the void by having another mistress. Secondly, the inevitability of death in all nature: ‘The finest flower that ere was seen/Is withered to a stalk.”  Here, the hint is that the lovers will have the same fate as the finest flower” “The stalk is wither’d dry, my love, ’So will our hearts decay. “  Then,  what is the way for the separated lovers  to get out of unquietness  The answer is: : …make your heart content, my love./Till God calls you away.”

 

            This  ballad has surely a spiritual touch, namely, contentment alone can end unquietness. To be quiet while sticking to the physical allurements of this world is impossible.  One has to be called away to the kingdom of God after dropping all the yearnings of material life to become eternally quiet.

 

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27^th March 2022                                                         G.R.KANWAL