Robin Hood is an outlaw bold <br /> Under the greenwood tree; <br />Bird, nor stag, nor morning air <br /> Is more at large than he. <br /> <br />They sent against him twenty men, <br /> Who joined him laughing-eyed; <br />They sent against him thirty more, <br /> And they remained beside. <br /> <br />All the stoutest of the train, <br /> That grew in Gamelyn wood, <br />Whether they came with these or not, <br /> Are now with Robin Hood. <br /> <br />And not a soul in Locksley town <br /> Would speak him an ill word; <br />The friars raged; but no man's tongue, <br /> Nor even feature stirred; <br /> <br />Except among a very few <br /> Who dined in the Abbey halls; <br />And then with a sigh bold Robin knew <br /> His true friends from his false. <br /> <br />There was Roger the monk, that used to make <br /> All monkery his glee; <br />And Midge, on whom Robin had never turned <br /> His face but tenderly; <br /> <br />With one or two, they say, besides, <br /> Lord! that in this life's dream <br />Men should abandon one true thing, <br /> That would abide with them. <br /> <br />We cannot bid our strength remain, <br /> Our cheeks continue round; <br />We cannot say to an aged back, <br /> Stoop not towards the ground; <br /> <br />We cannot bid our dim eyes see <br /> Things as bright as ever; <br />Nor tell our friends, though friends from youth, <br /> That they'll forsake us never: <br /> <br />But we can say, I never will, <br /> Friendship, fall off from thee; <br />And, oh sound truth and old regard, <br /> Nothing shall part us three.<br /><br />James Henry Leigh Hunt<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/robin-hood-an-outlaw/
