Rufford Park Poachers

[Verse 1]
A buck or doe believe it so
A pheasant or a hare
Sent on earth for everyone
Quite equal for to share

[Chorus]
Poacher bold as I unfold
Keep up your gallant heart
Think about those poachers bold
That night in Rufford Park

[Verse 2]
Oh, say the forty gallant poachers
They were in a mess
They'd often been attacked
When the number it was less

[Chorus]
So poacher bold as I unfold
Keep up your gallant heart
Think about those poachers bold
That night in Rufford Park

[Verse 3]
Among the gorse to settle scores
The forty gathered stones
They can fight for a poor man's rights
To break the keepers' bones

[Chorus]
Poacher bold as I unfold
Keep up your gallant heart
Think about those poachers bold
That night in Rufford Park

[Verse 4]
And the keepers went with flails
Against the poachers and their cause
No man there again would dare
Defy the rich man's laws

[Chorus]
Poacher bold as I unfold
Keep up your gallant heart
Think about those poachers bold
That night in Rufford Park

[Verse 5]
And the keepers they began the fray
With stones and with their flails
When the poachers started
Oh, they quickly turned their tails

[Chorus]
Poacher bold as I unfold
Keep up your gallant heart
Think about those poachers bold
That night in Rufford Park

[Verse 6]
Then upon the ground with mortal wound
The head keeper Roberts lay
He never will rise up until
The final judgement day

[Chorus]
Poacher bold as I unfold
Keep up your gallant heart
Think about those poachers bold
That night in Rufford Park

[Verse 7]
Of all that band who made a stand
To set a net or snare
Four men brought before the court
Were tried for murder there

[Chorus]
Poacher bold as I unfold
Keep up your gallant heart
Think about those poachers bold
That night in Rufford Park

[Verse 8]
And the judge he said, "For Roberts' death
Transported you must be
To serve in a term of fourteen years
In convict slavery"

[Chorus]
Poacher bold, my tale is told
Keep up your gallant heart
Think about those poachers bold
That night in Rufford Park