I once loved a beautiful maiden As fair as the blue skies above And each night as we wandered together The moon seemed to smile on our love We vowed to be true to each other That nothing could cause us to part But we never once dreamed that the future Held only a broken heart Then there came the night when we parted We quarreled as all sweethearts do And I learned what it was to be jealous When they told me her love was untrue She told me she had always been faithful She swore that her love could not die And then when I did not believe her She kissed me and told me goodbye Oh-de-lay-ee-oh, de-lay-ee, yo-de-lay-ee I found I had falsely accused her And went back to make her my bride And there in the door stood her mother She told me my sweetheart had died I went in and knelt down beside her And there in the hush of that room I prayed that my maker would take me And send my soul down to its doom So now I have told you the reason There's always a tear in my eye Through long weary years I've repented But I'm longing to lay down and die And I wonder if I'll be forgiven When I face the master someday And I wonder if I'll see my sweetheart On that beautiful shore far away Oh-de-lay-ee-oh, de-lay-ee, yo-de-lay-ee