Classic Poem

You love me, you say, and I think you do,
But I know so many who don't,
And how can I say I'll be true to you
When I know very well that I won't?
I have journeyed long and my goal is far,
I love, but I cannot bide,
For as sure as rises the morning star,
With the break of day I'll ride.
I was doomed to ruin or doomed to mar
The home wherever I stay,
But I'll think of you as the morning star
And they call me Break o'Day.

They well might have named me the Fall o' Night,
For drear is the track I mark;
But I love fair girls and I love the light,
For I and my tribe were dark.
You may love me, dear, for a day and night,
You may cast the world aside;
But as sure as the morning star shines bright
With the break of day I'll ride.

There was never a lover so proud and kind,
There was never a friend so true;
But the song of my life I have left behind
In the heart of a girl like you.
There was never so deep or cruel a wrong
In the land that is far away,
There was never so bitter a broken heart
That rode at the Break o' Day.

God bless you, girl, with your red-gold hair
And your pitying eyes of grey —
O my heart forbids that a star so fair
Should be marred by the Break o' Day.
Live on, my girl, as the girl you are,
Be a good and a true man's bride,
For as sure as beacons the evening star
With the fall o' night I'll ride.
I was born to ruin or born to mar
The home wherever I light.
O I wish that you were the Evening Star
And that I were the fall of night.