A buck or doe, believe it so A pheasant or a hare Were set on earth for everyone Quite equally to share So poacher bold as I unfold Keep up your gallant heart And think about those poachers bold That night in Rufford Park They say that forty gallant poachers They were in distress They'd often been attacked when Their number, it was less Among the gorse to settle scores Those forty gathered stones To make a fight for poor men's rights And break the keepers bones The keepers went with flails against The poachers and their cause So no man there again would dare Defy the rich man's laws Upon the ground with mortal wound Head keeper Roberts lay He never will rise up until The final judgment day Of all that band who made a stand To set a net or snare The four men brought before the court Were tried for murder there The Judge he said, "For Robert's death Transported you must be To serve a term of forty years In convict slavery" So poacher bold, your tale is told Keep up your gallant heart And think about those poachers bold That night in Rufford Park