GERALDINE, GERALDINE

Geraldine, Geraldine,

Do you remember where

The willows used to screen

The water flowing fair?

The mill-stream's banks of green

Where first our love begun,

When you were seventeen,

And I was twenty-one?

Geraldine, Geraldine,

Do you remember how

From th’ old bridge we would lean —

The bridge that's broken now —

To watch the minnows sheen,

And the ripples of the Run,

When you were seventeen,

And I was twenty-one?

Geraldine, Geraldine,

Do you remember too

The old beech-tree, between

Whose roots the wild flowers grew?

Where oft we met at e'en,

When stars were few or none,

When you were seventeen,

And I was twenty-one?

Geraldine, Geraldine,

The bark has grown around

The names I cut therein,

And the truelove-knot that bound;

The love-knot, clear and clean,

I carved when our love begun,

When you were seventeen,

And I was twenty-one?

Geraldine, Geraldine,

The roof of the farmhouse gray

Is fallen and mossy green;

Its rafters rot away:

The old path scarce is seen

Where oft our feet would run,

When you were seventeen,

And I was twenty-one.

Geraldine, Geraldine,

Through each old tree and bough

The lone winds cry and keen —

The place is haunted now,

With ghosts of what-has-been,

With dreams of love-long-done,

When you were seventeen,

And I was twenty-one.

Geraldine, Geraldine,

There, in your world of wealth,

There, where you move a queen,

Broken in heart and health,

Does there ever rise a scene

Of days, your soul would shun,

When you were seventeen,

And I was twenty-one?

Geraldine, Geraldine,

Here,‘ mid the rose and rue,

Would God that your grave were green.

And I were lying too!

Here on the hill, I mean,

Where oft we laughed i’ the sun,

When you were seventeen,

And I was twenty-one.