  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? 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. 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. |
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