Ah my dear, ah my dear son

‘Ah my dear, ah my dear son,’

Said Mary, ‘ah my dear,
Kiss thy mother, Jesu,
With a laughing cheer!’
This enders night
I saw a sight
All in my sleep;
Mary, that may,
She sang ‘ Lullay’
And sore did weep.

To keep she sought
Full fast about
Her son fro cold.
Joseph said ‘ Wife,
My joy, my life,
Say what ye wold.’

‘No thing, my spouse,
Is in this house
Unto my pay;
My son, a king
That made all thing,
Lieth in hay.’

“My mother dear,
Amend your cheer,
And now be still;
Thus for to lie
It is soothly
My Father’s will.

‘ Derision,
Great passion,
Infinitely,
As it is found,
Many a wound
Suffer shall I.

‘On Calvary
That is so high
There shall I be,
Man to restore,
Nailéd full sore
Upon a tree.’