A manchild is born in joy
That was begotten in dire woe
Just as we in joy reap the fruit
Which we in bitter tears did sow
He's taken from his parents then
And given to a woman old
Who nails him down upon a rock
Catches his shrieks in cups of gold
She binds iron thorns around his head
She pierces both his hands and feet
She cuts his heart out at his side
To make it feel both cold and heat
Her fingers number every nerve
As the miser counts his gold
She lives upon his shrieks and cries
As she grows young, as he grows old
These are the gems of the human soul
The rubies and pearls of a love-sick I
The countless gold of the aching heart
The martyr's groan and the lover's sigh
He becomes a bleeding youth
And she becomes a virgin bright
Then he rends up his manacles
And binds her down for his delight
He plants himself in all her nerves
Just as the husbandman his mould
And she becomes his dwelling place
And garden fruitful seventy-fold
His grief is their eternal joy
They make the roofs and walls to ring
Till from the fire on the hearth
A little female babe doth spring
The honey of her infant lips
The bread and the wine of her sweet smile
The wild game in her roving eye
Does him to infancy beguile
These are the gems of the human soul
The rubies and pearls of a love-sick I
The countless gold of the aching heart
The martyr's groan and the lover's sigh
And she is all of solid fire
And gems of gold, that none his hand
Dares stretch to touch her baby form
Or wrap her in his swaddling band
And from she he eats and drinks
He grows younger and younger every day
Her fear plants many a thicket wild
But he pursues her night and day
Till he becomes a wayward babe
And she a weeping woman old
But when they find the frowning babe
The sun and stars are nearer rolled
And none can touch the frowning form
Except it be a woman old
She nails him down upon a rock
And all is done as has been told
These are the gems of the human soul
The rubies and pearls of a love-sick I
The countless gold of the aching heart
The martyr's groan and the lover's sigh