Unless within a fortnight's space
Thy face, O maid, I see;
Flamenca, of Egyptian race,
My lady love shall be.
Flamenca, of Egyptian race,
If thou wert only mine,
Within a bonny crystal case
For life I'd thee enshrine.
Sire nor mother me caress,
For I have none on earth;
One little brother I possess,
And he's a fool by birth.
Thy sire and mother wrath and hate
Have vow'd against me, love!
The first, first night that from the gate
We two together rove.
Come to the window, sweet love, do,
And I will whisper there,
In Rommany, a word or two,
And thee far off will bear.
A Gypsy stripling's sparkling eye
Has pierced my bosom's core,
A feat no eye beneath the sky
Could e'er effect before.
Dost bid me from the land begone,
And thou with child by me?
Each time I come, the little one,
I'll greet in Rommany.
With such an ugly, loathly wife
The Lord has punish'd me;
I dare not take her for my life
Where'er the Spaniards be.
O, I am not of gentle clan,
I'm sprung from Gypsy tree;
And I will be no gentleman,
But an Egyptian free.
On high arose the moon so fair,
The Gypsy 'gan to sing:
I see a Spaniard coming there,
I must be on the wing.
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