Stanzas For Music

I loved a little maiden
    In the golden years gone by;
She lived in a mill, as they all do
    (There is doubtless a reason why).
But she faded in the autumn
    When the leaves began to fade,
And the night before she faded,
    These words to me she said:
'Do not forget me, Henry,
    Be noble and brave and true;
But I must not bide, for the world is wide,
    And the sky above is blue.'

So I said farewell to my darling,
    And sailed away and came back;
And the good ship Jane was in port again,
    And I found that they all loved Jack.
But Polly and I were sweethearts,
    As all the neighbours know,
Before I met with the mill-girl
    Twenty years ago.
So I thought I would go and see her,
    But alas, she had faded too!
She could not bide, for the world was wide,
    And the sky above was blue.

And now I can only remember
    The maid--the maid of the mill,
And Polly, and one or two others
    In the churchyard over the hill.
And I sadly ask the question,
    As I weep in the yew-tree's shade
With my elbow on one of their tombstones,
    'Ah, why did they all of them fade?'
And the answer I half expected
    Comes from the solemn yew,
'They could none of them bide, for the world was wide,
    And the sky above was blue.'