BeesWing

I was nineteen when I came to town, they called it the summer of love
They were burning babies, burning flags, the Hawks against the Doves
I took a job in the steamie down on Caldrum Street
I fell in love with a laundry girl was working next to me

Brownhair zig zag round her face, and a look of half surprise
Like a fox caught in the headlights, there was animal in her eyes
She said young man, O cant you see, Im not the factory kind
If you dont take me out of here, Ill surely lose my mind

She was a rare thing, fine as a Beeswing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child, she was running wild She said,
as long as theres no price on love Ill stay
And you wouldnt want me any other way

We busked around the market towns And picked fruit down in Kent
And we could tinker lamps and pots And knives wherever we went
And I said that we might settle down Get a few acres dug
Fire burning in the hearth And babies on the rug
She said O man, you foolish man That surely sounds like hell
You might be lord of half the world Youll not own me as well

She was a rare thing, fine as a Beeswing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child, she was running wild She said,
as long as theres no price on love Ill stay
And you wouldnt want me any other way

We was camping down the Gower one time The work was pretty good
She thought we shouldnt wait for the frost And I thought maybe we should
We were drinking more in those days And tempers reached a pitch
Like a fool I let her run With the rambling itch

last I hear shes sleeping out Back on the Derby beat
White horse in her hip pocket And a wolfhound at her feet
And they say she even married once A man named Romany Brown
But even a gypsy caravan Was too much settling down
And they say her flower is faded now Hard weather and hard booze
But maybe thats just the price you pay For the chains you refuse

She was a rare thing, fine as a Beeswing
So fine that I might crush her where she lay
And I miss her more than words could ever say
If I could just taste, All of her wildness now
If I could hold her in my arms today
Then I wouldnt want her any other way