When I was young I had much to achieve:
          Learning to dance and to sing and recite,
          Learning to sew and to spin and to weave,
          My mother's young lady, my father's delight.
          Making such trinkets as fitted my place:
          Tapestry, 'broidery, ribbon, and lace.
          
          But no joy lasts forever; the sparrow must fall;
          An envious neighbor lord fired our Keep.
          Barefoot I fled from the wreck of the Hall,
          My father, my family, slain in their sleep.
          Sifting the ashes I found there no trace--
          Tapestry, 'broidery, ribbon, and lace.
          
          I learned in my travels where gallantry ends,
          A penniless lady in wintery lands.
          I worked for a merchant, I learned how to fence;
          The sword and the scrubbing-brush hardened my hands.
          My dreams, they turned wistful on comfort, and grace,
          Tapestry, 'broidery, ribbon, and lace.
          
          And when my two feet took me homeward again,
          I met on the road that proud neighbor of old.
          He started a fight that he thought he could win;
          I went through his pockets, to gather his gold,
          Weeping for losses no coin could replace:
          Tapestry, 'broidery, ribbon, and lace.
          
          The riches I gathered this cottage did yield.
          My name, and my lineage, no villager knows.
          In the time I can spare from the flock and the field
          Under my needle embroidery grows.
          For these be my dowry, me mem'ries, my face,
          My tapestry, 'broidery, ribbon, and lace.
          Tapestry, 'broidery, ribbon, and lace.