In reading I love you, Ronnie; a book about Ronald Reagan’s love letters to Nancy he quotes one of his favorite English Ballads. It goes: “I will lay me down and bleed a while./ Though I am wounded I am not slain./ I shall rise and fight again.” I was wondering if anybody knows the name of the ballad or if there is more of it.
The name of the ballad is “Sir Andrew Barton”. The complete text can be found here another version with more traditional spelling is here
If Reagan was quoting poetry, it was probably either Robert W. Service or Edgar Guest.
Hey, watch it Uke. I love Robert W. Service.
FYI, my favorite: The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill.
{carefully entering information onto the Big Board}
Stuyguy…Service, yea…Reagan, nay.
FYI, The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill: