Preciosa

Preciosa waits in the wind
She'll wait there all day and all night
'Till some man simply passing through
Is beckoned by her beams of light

She'll take him to the river
And lay down right by its edge
Here to the song of the cricket
Here to the call of the sedge

Her dark hair gleams in the sunlight
Gleams by the light of the moon
She sings of some ancient sorrow
Wrapped up in an old folk tune

O won't you come with me, my darling one
Come with me a while?
Come with me, my little darling one
If only for tonight

The leaves of the ash and willow
Stay silent next to the shore
They've witnessed Preciosa
Yes, they've seen all this before

They've seen some man who is passing
Hear her sing and watch her smile
Bewildered by her dark beauty
Without the will to decline

No man was said to resist her
Certain, I didn't buck the trend
When we met and cool she told me
"I'm not your lover or friend"

On the thirty-first of August
I did have some place to go
But Preciosa took my hand
There was no place else to go

O won't you come with me, my darling one
Come with me a while?
Come with me, my little darling one
If only for tonight

We walked through thicket of bramble
Had threads snatched by prickly thorns
Of blackberry and wine berry
And tall yellow-blooming gorse

I lost a few from the jacket
Of my black second-hand suit
She lost one from the petticoat
The hem starched with wild black fruit

I felt the expectation of
A man who's on a promise
Whether with fine sweet Fat Margot
Or that round sweet throat Goddess

O won't you come with me, my darling one
Come with me a while?
Come with me, my little darling one
If only for tonight

The sun went down, the moon came out
We reached the wide river's edge
Somewhere the song of the cricket
Somewhere the call of the sedge

Onto a bed of grass and sand
We quickly fell together
I ripped away her satin dress
And threw it to the heather

My suit came off at a hat's drop
Between us there was nothing
Our bodies moved as freely as
The wild waters were running

Her hips they slipped away from me
Like two little silver trout
And then the vice grip of her thighs
Held me tight from toe to snout

For sure we gave the best we could
Mouth-to-mouth and limb-to-limb
Exchanging blows and manoeuvres
Kiss for kiss and pin for pin

The night flamed now with windy fire
Her dress blew hooked on the hedge
Down the river beasts were howling
They drowned out cricket and sedge

And as our bodies burned to ash
Smoke in the air did billow
I will tell you that, for more, I guess
Go ask the ash and willow

I had no wish to fall for her
As if it were up to me
I had no wish to be her friend
It was one night, we were free

With sandy lips and grassy knees
At the dawning of the day
We left the waters running wild
We went our separate ways

On the first day of September
Last night already long behind
Gone like a song sung in summer
Or Preciosa, gone with the wind