Sherwood in the twilight, is Robin Hood awake?
Grey and ghostly shadows are gliding through the brake
Shadows of the dappled deer, dreaming of the morn
Dreaming of a shadowy man that winds a shadowy horn
Robin Hood is here again: all his merry thieves
Hear a ghostly bugle-note shivering through the leaves
Calling as he used to call, faint and far away
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day
Merry, merry England has kissed the lips of June
All the wings of fairyland were here beneath the moon
Like a flight of rose-leaves fluttering in a mist
Of opal and ruby and pearl and amethyst
Merry, merry England is waking as of old
With eyes of blither hazel and hair of brighter gold
For Robin Hood is here again beneath the bursting spray
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day
Love is in the greenwood building him a house
Of wild rose and hawthorn and honeys**le boughs
Love is in the greenwood, dawn is in the skies
And Marian is waiting with a glory in her eyes
Hark! The dazzled laverock climbs the golden steep
Marian is waiting: is Robin Hood asleep?
Round the fairy gra**-rings frolic elf and fay
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day
(About the break of day)
Oberon, Oberon, rake away the gold
Rake away the red leaves, roll away the mould
Rake away the gold leaves, roll away the red
And wake Will Scarlett from his leafy forest bed
Friar Tuck and Little John are riding down together
With quarter-staff and drinking-can and grey goose-feather
The dead are coming back again, the years are rolled away
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day
Softly over Sherwood the south wind blows
All the heart of England is in every rose
Hears across the greenwood the sunny whisper leap
Sherwood in the red dawn, is Robin Hood asleep?
Hark, the voice of England wakes him as of old
And shattering the silence with a cry of brighter gold
Bugles in the greenwood echo from the steep
Sherwood in the red dawn, is Robin Hood asleep?
Where the deer are gliding down the shadowy glen
All across the glades of fern he calls his merry men
Doublets of the Lincoln green glancing through the May
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day
Calls them and they answer: from aisles of oak and ash
Rings the Follow! Follow! and the boughs begin to crash
The ferns begin to flutter and the flowers begin to fly
And through the crimson dawning the robber band goes by
Robin! Robin! Robin! All his merry thieves
Answer as the bugle-note shivers through the leaves
Calling as he used to call, faint and far away
(Calling as he used to call, faint and far away)
In Sherwood, in Sherwood, about the break of day