Voice 1 (male):
Fare thee well, love, fare thee well, love!
Far away you must go.
Take your heart, love, take you heart, love!
Will we never meet again no more?

Voice 2 (female):
Far across, love, far across, love!
O'er the mountains and country wide
Take my heart, love, take my heart, love!
No one knows the tears I've cried.

Chorus (both):
So I'll drink today, love,
I'll sing to you, love.
In pauper's glory my time I'll bide,
No home or ties, love, a restless rover
If I can't have you by my side.

Voice 1:
Oh come back, love, oh come back, love!
The sun and moon refuse to shine.

Voice 2:
Since I've gone, love, gone away, love
This lonely girl has had no peace of mind.

Chorus

Voice 1 & 2:
Fare thee well, love, fare thee well, love
Far away you must go.
Take my heart, love, take your heart, love!
Will we never meet again no more?
Will we never meet again no more?

Some folks like to sigh
Some folks do, some folks do
Others long to die
But that's not me nor you!

Chorus:
Long live the merry, merry heart
That lives by night and day
Like the Queen of Mirth
No matter what some folks say.
Long live the merry, merry heart
That laughs by night and day
Like the Queen of Mirth
No matter what some folks say.

Some folks fear to smile
Some folks do, some folks do
Others laugh through guile
But that's not me nor you!

Chorus

Some folks threat and scold
Some folks do, some folks do
They'll soon be dead and cold,
But that's not me nor you!

Chorus

Some folks get gray hairs
Some folks do, some folks do
Brooding o'er their cares
But that's not me nor you!

Chorus

Some folks toil and save
Some folks do, some folks do
To buy themselves a grave
But that's not me nor you!

Chorus:
Long live the merry, merry heart
That lives by night and day
Like the Queen of Mirth
No matter what some folks say.
Long live the merry, merry heart
That laughs by night and day
Like the Queen of Mirth
No matter what some folks say!

Voice 1 (female):
Pray can you buy me an acre or more,
(both): Savory, sage, rosemary, and thyme,
Between the wide ocean and the seashore?
And then you can be a true lover of mine.

Pray can you plow it with one ram's horn,
Savory, sage, rosemary, and thyme,
And sow it all over with one peppercorn?
And then you can be a true lover of mine.

Pray can you reap it with a sickle of leather,
Savory, sage, rosemary,and thyme,
And tie it all up with one peacock's feather?
And then you can be a true lover of mine.

Voice 2 (male):
Now you have asked of me these questions three,
And now it is my turn to ask three of thee.

Pray can you make me a fine cambric shirt,
(both): Savory, sage, rosemary, and thyme,
Without any seam and all needlework?
And then you can be a true lover of mine.

Pray in yon brook can you wash it and wade,
Savory, sage, rosemary, and thyme,
Where water ne'er flowed since earth it was made?
And then you can be a true lover of mine.

Pray can you dry it on yonder sweet thorn,
Savory, sage, rosemary, and thyme,
Where blossom ne'er bloomed since Adam was born?
And then you can be a true lover of mine.

Then you can be a true lover of mine!

[ Program Participants Translations & Text ]

I stand and watch the Fall leaves fall,
Green leaves turned gold and red.
A chill wind wails and shakes the boughs;
Of snow and ice it hails.

I stand and ask: Is this quite real?
For like a dream it seems--
This Autumn wonderland laid out like
No man has ever seen.

In sweet fields of autumn the gold grain is falling,
the white clouds drift lonely, the wild swan is calling.
Alas for the daisies, the tall fern and grasses,
when windsweep and rainfall fill lowlands and passes.

The snows of December shall fill windy hollow;
the bleak rain trails after, and March wind shall follow.
The deer through the valleys leave print of their going;
and diamonds of sleet mark the ridges of snowing.

The stillness of death shall stoop over the water,
the plover sweep low where the pale streamlets falter;
but deep in the earth clod the black seed is living;
when spring sounds her bugles for rousing and giving.

I walk the unfrequented road
with open eye and ear;
I watch afield the farmer load
the bounty of the year.

I filch the fruit of no one's toil--
no trespasser am I--
and yet I reap from every soil
and from the boundless sky.

I gather where I did not sow,
and bind the mystic sheaf,
the amber air, the river's flow,
the rustle of the leaf.

A beauty springtime never knew
haunts all the quiet ways,
and sweeter shines the landscape through
its veil of autumn haze.

I face the hills, the streams, the wood,
and feel with all akin;
my heart expands; their fortitude
and peace and joy flow in.

Heap high the farmer's wintry hoard!
Heap high the golden corn!
No richer gift has autumn poured
from out the lavish horn!

Through vales of grass and meads of flowers
our plows their furrows made,
while on the hills the sun and showers of changeful April played.

We dropped the long, bright days of June
beneath the sun of May,
and frightened from our sprouting grain the robber crows away.

All through the long, bright days of June
its leaves grem green and fair,
and waved in hot mid-summer's noon
its soft and yellow hair.

And now, with autumn's moonlit eyes,
its harvest time has come;
we pluck away the frosted leaves
and bear the treasure home.

'Tis winter now; the fallen snow
Has left the heavens all coldly clear!
Through leafless boughs the sharp winds blow
And all the earth lies dead and drear.

And though abroad the sharp winds blow
And skies are chill and frosts are keen
Home closer draws her circle now
And warmer glows her light within!

I am, I am a trav'lin' harper-man
I wander 'round to towns near, far and wide.
The road is fine, the path divine,
I'll e'en traverse a trace,
But when I've arrived here for to stay
My days are full, but the nights are lonely still.

My heart, my heart, it beats in hope of love!
Where can it find a place to rest at ease?
The time I stay fast flows away
And ne'er will I return,
But while I'm here would you indulge me?
The touch of your hand would soothe my heart content!

I am, I am a trav'lin' harper-man
I wander 'round to towns near, far and wide.
I'll sing a tune just for the room
And time spent near to you.
Come the dawn and again I'll be off,
But the road is fine as a sav'ry red wine

And I'll never forget you, kind heart.

Hello, girls, listen to my voice,
Don't you ever marry no good-for-nothing boys,
If you do your doom shall be
Hoecake, hominy, and sassafrass tea.
Fa la la…

Young boys walking down the street,
Young girls think they look mighty sweet.
Hands in their pockets, not a dime do they find.
Oh, how tickled, poor girls mine.
Fa la la…

When a young man falls in love,
First it's honey and then turtledove.
After he's married, no such thing,
"Get up and get my breakfast,
you good-for-nothing thing."
Fa la la…

[ DeCantus ]