Poetry

Gone fishing

[O, fisher of men

Why’s it like this?]

When he goes up

Then I go down

When we win

Then they lose

That is the way of it.

When I was fishing on the sandy shore

Around the autumn time

I must have had the boat on the sea

And brought a big catch home

But that one there who is jealous of me

He took me by the heel and broke my head

[O, fisher of men

Why’s it like this?]

When he goes up

Then I go down

When we win

Then they lose

That is the way of it.

So when you’ve brought me back, again

Then I will take the place of my dad

Who’s in the other world with the dead

… The fisher king,

… I can do anything

[O, fisher of men

Why’s it like this?]

When he goes up

Then I go down

When we win

Then they lose

That is the way of it.

Now, he is handsome, cunning, and bright

But he’s not honest and he hates me mum

And I’ve been laid away on the ground

On the cold and frosty earth by you and him

Will spring and summer come again

And me in golden grove?

[O, fisher of men

Why’s it like this?]

When he goes up

Then I go down

When we win

Then they lose

That is the way of it.

My head is in the east, my legs

And arms are in the north, the west

Has all my heart, my bits are elsewhere

They sprinkled me around

But mother bring me back

To make the Earth support us as it did

[O, fisher of men

Why’s it like this?]

When he goes up

Then I go down

When we win

Then they lose

That is the way of it.

When I was fishing on the sandy shore