John Keats

The Devon Maid: Stanzas Sent In A Letter To B. R. Haydon

1. Where be ye going, you Devon maid? And what have ye there i' the basket? Ye tight little fairy, just fresh from the dairy, Will ye give me some cream if I ask it? 2. I love your meads, and I love your flowers, And I love your junkets mainly, But 'hind the door, I love kissing more, O look not so disdainly! 3. I love your hills, and I love your dales, And I love your flocks a-bleating; But O, on the heather to lie together, With both our hearts a-beating! 4. I'll put your basket all safe in a nook, Your shawl I'll hang up on this willow, And we will sigh in the daisy's eye, And kiss on a grass-green pillow. 'In the letter of Saturday the 14th of March 1818, embodying the verses headed "Teignmouth," this song also occurs after a prose break consisting merely of the words which Mr. Taylor printed as -- "There's a bit of doggrel; you would like a bit of botheral. " The first line of the song is not of the most authentic Devonian diction, though 'have ye' and 'Will ye' are, essentially; but these forms are always pronounced by the indigenous Devon maid "have 'e" and "will 'e. "' ~ Poetical Works of John Keats, ed. H. Buxton Forman, Crowell publ. 1895.