Блестящият оригинал:
 

The maiden to the raven called,

You wisest of all birds:

Come tell me how to choose a man

Please give me your wise words.

To choose a man from other men,

The black bird did respond,

Look for a man with tender eyes

And ways both strong and fond.

Choose not a man with temper swift

Nor slowness to begin:

Use heart and mind the man to find

That you will wish to win.

The maiden to the raven said,

Ah! Your advice is sound:

Now tell me how to win the man

That I have finally found.

To win the man that you would wed,

The black bird made reply,

Be always just beyond his reach,

And, with a laughing eye,

Be lithe, be sweet, be smiling, but

Him never meet alone:

This is the plan to win your man

And make him all your own.

The maiden to the raven cried,

Come, tell to me the way

That I may keep my husband's love

That he will never stray.

To keep your husband's love for e'er,

The black bird did reply,

You must stop his beating heart

When he to sleep doth lie:

For men, as you should know by now,

Do never bide in peace,

No trick will prove to bind their love,

Or make their rovings cease.