The Highwayman, Poem by Noyes & Music by Loreena McKennitt

The Highwayman, Poem by Noyes & Music by Loreena McKennitt

The poem has been with me a long time, now, but it really made an impression when Kennon played the song version of it for me in our apartment many years ago. The story has a 1984 sadness to it, yet its a beautiful story that begs to be listened to again and again. Its the same tragic story that many of our best tales reveal, whether Last of the Mohicans, or even Christ on the cross. Its sad, but its beautiful to hear.

I'm sorry that I don't have the music file for you to listen to, but here is the original poem from Noyes;

Part One
I
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight, over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding- Riding-riding-
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

II
He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.

III
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

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