[Barbara Baig]

Oh, no, not another ballad! Yep. This one has long been popular, in its many versions. Here's one featuring seven gypsies:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2y8csA3B2g

This is not in ballad meter, intentionally.

Gypsy Davy (updated)

S1
I knew it was never going to work
With that first cold tentative kiss:
No spark, no hunger, no passion, nothing—
I already knew what I would miss
S2
After the wedding. But he was rich,
And I’d had my share of easy men;
I wanted the things money could buy;
I figured I could just pretend

S3
To be the wife he thought I was,
With a mask of love like a pretty new dress.
I was very good at that secret game:
Seven years, and he never once guessed…

S4
Until one day, down at the dock,
Lean, tattooed, a man stood in the sun;
He turned my way—our gazes locked—
No question at all that he was the one

S5
I’d always wanted, waited for,
Never thought would really appear:
His boat in the water, he handed me in,
And slowly we sailed away from the pier—

S6
Not far—to an island out in the Bay;
A rough-made camp, a tarp for a bed,
Some food, and the moon rising above;
“I’m known as Gypsy Davy,” he said.

S7
I didn’t need to tell my name;
My bracelets made a silver sound
As I wrapped him close in my wanting arms,
And pulled us both down to the ground.

S8
Later I heard my husband was frantic,
Sent the servants to search all over town;
In the moonlight we saw his yacht come near,
Saw him step out on the island ground.

S9
“Last night,” he said, and his eyes were hard,
“You slept ‘neath the finest silk and down;
In a satin negligee trimmed with gold—
Now you sleep on the cold, cold ground,

S10
“In the arms of this worthless wandering man!
My costly gifts you’ve never spurned,
And I’ve given you all a woman could want.
I’ll give even more—when you return.”

S11
“What do I care for your costly gifts?
For your house and your lands and your fancy ways?
I’d rather lie on the cold, cold ground
In the arms of my Gypsy Davy.

S12
“And what do I care for your bed of silk
For your house in the richest part of town?
I’d rather lie with my own true love
With the silver of moonlight wrapping us round.

“Yes, I’d rather lie with my own true love,
With the silver of moonlight wrapping us round.”