Classic Poem

A Ballad

1

Love is past and all the rest
Thereto belonging fled away
The most esteemed and valued best
Are faded all and gone away
How beautiful was Mary's dress
While dancing at the meadow ball
— 'Tis twenty years or more at least
Since Mary seemed the first of all

2

Lord how young bonny Mary burnt
With blushes like the roses hue
My face like water thrown upon't
Turned white as lilies i' the dew
When grown a man I went to see
The school where Mary's name was known
I looked to find it on a Tree
But found it on a low grave stone

3

Now is past — was this the now
In fine straw-hat and ribbons gay
I'd court her neath the white thorn bough
And tell her all I had to say
But all is gone — and now is past
And still my spirits chill alone
Loves name that perished in the blast
Grows mossy on a church-yard stone.