The Hunt is Up (2)

The hunt is up! the hunt is up
And it is well-nigh day;
And Harry our king is gone hunting
To bring his deer to bay.

The east is bright with morning light,
And darkness it is fled,
And the merry horn wakes up the morn
To leave his idle bed.

Behold the skies with golden dyes,
Are glowing all around;
The grass is green, and so are the treen
All laughing at the sound.

The horses snort to be at the sport
The dogs are running free
The woods rejoice at the merry noise
Of hey tantara tee ree!

The sun is glad to see us clad
All in our lusty green,
And smiles in the sky as he riseth high
To see and to be seen.

Note: Appears in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Act III Scene 5.
Tune frum Hullah, Musick's Delight on the Cithern, 1667;
also Jane Pickering's Lute Book, 1615.
RG