JOHN PARFIT (James Flynn)

Parfit went out one cold dark night
Walking the orchards,woods all round
Thinking to find some game to eat
Along the frosted ground

He had the pheasant in the trees
Innocent to the wild owl call
Come the keepers stealthy tread
His mean heart wrapped in gall

The Duke of Norfolks gamekeeper
Out to the woodland came
Protecting life,so it be killed
On a sporting day for fun

He give chase to John Parfit
All in the lonely copse that night
Struggling beneath the bare branched trees
In the foxes silent site

A shot was fired and sad to tell
Lay John Parfit on the ground
For a moments rage and carelessness
Precious blood flowed down

In the light of dawn
Brown leaves on mossy ground
On a woodland place,where death has come
Golden sun shone down

The gamekeeper was told go free
For it was said that there was no crime
That a man was killed and stupidly
Nobody seemed to mind

The worlds a tattered and rusty place
Drowning memories of countless men
Gaurdians guard by earthly fence
But who will guard the guardians?

From the album 'Signs of Life' - Martin Carthy