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The Plain Golden
Band.
(1)
I'm dreaming tonight of the
days that are gone,
When the sun lingered over the mountains at
dawn,
Where the dew drops from heaven like diamonds did
glow,
They were kissing the violets in the valley
below.
(2)
The brooks they were running so
clear and so blue,
The tall pines were waving, the birds sang so
true,
The flowers were blooming on the banks by the
shore,
As I parted with
Lizzie1 the girl I adore.
(3)
The night that we parted I ne'er shall forget,
I fancy I see those bright tears falling yet,
My heart
it was breaking, with sorrows did sting,
When she drew from her
finger a plain golden ring.
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(4)
"Take back
this gold ring, love, I fain would restrain,
For wearing it now
only causes me pain.
I've broken my vows that we made on the
strand,
So take back I pray you, this plain golden
band."
(5)
"Renew the engagement, 0 darling," I
cried,
"For you know you have promised you'll soon be my
bride.
My heart it is true and can never grow cold,
So renew the engagement and the plain band of gold."
(6)
"O laddie, I know that your love it is true.
I know that you love me and that I love you.
But I've
broken the vows that we'd made on the strand,
So take back I
pray you the plain golden band.
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(7)
"The moon
from the heavens shone brightly one night,
All nature seemed
wrapped in a pure mellow light,
And then a dark vapour
o'ershadowed the land,
As I strayed from my cottage to walk by
the strand.
(8)
"A young man approached me
and him I well knew.
He told me false stories, false stories of
you,
How he’d won your affection, your heart and your
hand,
And that put a stain on the plain golden
band."
(9)
She threw her arms round me and
cried in despair,
While the wind it did ripple her wavy dark
hair.
The moon from the heavens shone bright on the
strand,
And the light it fell fair on the plain golden
band.
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208]
(10)
"Forgive me, forgive me, 0 darling" she
cried
" Ere you lay me to rest 'neath the dark rolling
tide.
With these cherished letters all in my right
hand
And on my cold bosom the plain golden band.
(11)
In a green shaded forest not far away
The deer loves to ramble and the child loves to play.
All
nature is gay and the scenery is grand.
You will there find the
author
2 of the "Plain Golden
Band."
Finis.
Notes
1
"Lizzie" is Lizzie M. Morse, the
author's ex-fiancee. Morse left the author for another
man, thereby providing the inspiration for the ballad.
2
The
author is Joseph W. Scott, known as Joe Scott. Scott was a poet and woodsman.
He was born on February 5, 1867 in Lower Woodstock, New Brunswick. He died on June
22, 1918 in Augusta,
Maine.
