Bee's Wing

I was 18 when I came to town, they called it the summer of love They were burning babies burning flags, the hawks against the doves I took a job at the steaming, way down on Caltrim street And I fell in love with a laundry girl that was workin' next to me Brown hair zig zagged around her face and a look of half surprise Like a fox caught in the headlights, there was animal in her eyes She said to me, oh can't you see, I'm not the factory kind And if you don't take me out of here, I'll lose my mind She was a rare thing, as fine as a bee's wing So fine a breath of wind might blow her away She was a lost child, she was runnin' wild She said so long as there's no price on love I'll stay You wouldn't want me any other way We busked around the market towns, fruit pickin', down in Kent We could tinker pots and pans and knives wherever we went And I said to her, we'll settle down and get a few acres dug A fire burning in the hearth and babies on the rug She said, oh man, you foolish man that surely sounds like hell You might be lord of half the world, you'll not own me as well She was a rare thing, as fine as a bee's wing So fine a breath of wind might blow her away She was a lost child, she was runnin' wild She said so long as there's no price on love I'll stay You wouldn't want me any other way We were campin down the Gower one time when the work was mighty good She wouldn't wait for the harvest, I thought we should We were drinking more in those days, our tempers reached a pitch Like a fool I let her run away when she took the rambling itch And the last I heard she's living rough back in the Derby beat A bottle of White Horse in her pocket, a Wolfhound at her feet And they say that she got married once to a man called Romany Brown Even a gypsy caravan was too much like settlin' down They say her rose has faded, rough weather and hard booze Maybe that's the price you pay for the chains that you refuse She was a rare thing, as fine as a bee's wing I miss her more than ever words can say If I could just taste all of her wildness now If I could hold her in my arms today I wouldn't want her any other way