And who by fire, who by water
Who in the sunshine, who in the night time
Who by high ordeal, who by common trial
Who in your merry merry month of May
Who by very slow decay
And who shall I say is calling?
And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate
The line “merry month of May” is famous; the first recorded usage is a poem of that title from a play written in 1599, though its use in the play indicates that it was a common phrase well before then. Its most famous usage may be in the folk song “ Barbara Allen ,” where it denotes a far more bitter event: “the merry month of May” is the month where Barbara’s suitor dies after she cruelly rejects him. In that context the line may be said to evoke one who dies of a broken heart.
Who by Fire