THE ITINERANT SINGING GIRL
Reading edition
FROM THE DANISH.
FATHERLESS and motherless, no brothers have I, And all my little sisters in the cold grave lie; Wasted with hunger I saw them falling dead— Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.
Friendless and loverless, I wander to and fro, Singing while my faint heart is breaking fast with woe, Smiling in my sorrow, and singing for my bread— Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.
Harp clang and merry song by stranger door and board, None ask wherefore tremble my pale lips at each word; None care why the colour from my wan cheek has fled— Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.
Smiling and singing still, tho' hunger, want, and woe, Freeze the young life-current in my veins as I go; Begging for my living, yet wishing I were dead— Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.