Lyrics Washer at the Ford - Argyle Goolsby

Washer at the Ford

Stranger, don’t be afraid
I am in no shape to do you harm
Though frightened you surely are by me
Grant me a moments bended knee
Dismiss this blood spray on my clothes
I can assure you it’s my own
Though I lay bearing no cruel wound
The witch on the ford surely sealed my doom
Oh God, I think I’m marked
Stranger, lend me your ear
Hear these last words of a dying man
I testify a great misdeed
My true love’s heart I have aggrieved
I broke off for another belle
She conjured up vengeance, she conjured up hell
She put that webbed witch there square in my path
Soaking my clothes with the blood of the past
From round' yonder bend she came closing in
The shadowy Washer at the Ford
Jacklights were her eyes, foretelling demise
The flickering Washer at the Ford
Now I know I’m marked
Stranger, could it be we’ve met some place before?
You bear resemblance to my lover whom I’ve recent scorned
«Yes fallen friend, we did acquaint once on a stroll…
Round' yonder bend.
Now, let me wring those stains out from your soul»!
She wailed as she washed
She laughed at the cross
I hastily patterned cross my chest
My vestment she wrung, and ruefully flung these burgundy bloodstains cross' my
breast
From round' yonder bend she came closing in. The shadowy Washer
At the Ford.
Jacklights were her eyes, foretelling demise
The flickering Washer at the Ford