The Highwayman

The Highwayman
By Alfred 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 [bad word] hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They [bad word] 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.