The Green Bay Tree
by
“Where is the place of their first fond meeting,
“Where, oh where, is that green bay tree,
“Under whose cover
“The maid and her lover
“Plighted their troth and their constancy?”
O the winter nights were bleak and dreary,
The storms of summer were fierce and free;
Its trunk is shattered,
Its branches are scattered,
O! withered and dead is that green bay tree!
“Where are the lovers who courted its shadow,
“Where, oh where, may those fond ones be?
“The troth which they plighted,
“How is it requited–
“Say, have they forgotten that green bay tree?”
The lover was fickle, and would not remember;
He met with another more fair than she;
For her–broken-hearted,
Her peace hath departed,
The maiden doth fade like the green bay tree!