After The Ball
A little girl climbed on an old man’s knee,
Begged for a story, “Do, uncle, please.
Why are you single, why you live alone?
Have you no babies, have you no home?”
“I had a sweetheart long years ago,
Where she is now, pet, you soon will know.
Listen to my story, I’ll tell it all;
I broke her heart, pet, after the ball.”
Refrain
After the ball is over, after the break of dawn,
After the dancer’s leaving, after the stars are gone.
Many a heart was aching, if we but knew it all;
Many a hope had vanished after the ball.
“Bright lights were flashing in the grand ball room.
Softly the music played a sweet tune.
There stood my sweetheart, my love, my own;
Give me some water, leave me alone.”
“When I came back, pet, there stood a man,
Kissing my sweetheart as lovers can.
Down fell the glass, pet, broken, that’s all,
Just as my heart was after the ball.”
“Long years passed by, pet, I never wed,
True to my sweetheart though she was dead.
She tried to tell me, tied to explain,
I wouldn’t listen, pleadings in vain.”
“One day a letter came from that man.
He was her brother, so the letter ran.
That’s why I’m single, you know it all,
I broke her heart, pet, after the ball.”
November 1967
Lower Creek
Lenoir, NC
A little girl climbed on an old man’s knee,
Begged for a story, “Do, uncle, please.
Why are you single, why you live alone?
Have you no babies, have you no home?”
“I had a sweetheart long years ago,
Where she is now, pet, you soon will know.
Listen to my story, I’ll tell it all;
I broke her heart, pet, after the ball.”
Refrain
After the ball is over, after the break of dawn,
After the dancer’s leaving, after the stars are gone.
Many a heart was aching, if we but knew it all;
Many a hope had vanished after the ball.
“Bright lights were flashing in the grand ball room.
Softly the music played a sweet tune.
There stood my sweetheart, my love, my own;
Give me some water, leave me alone.”
“When I came back, pet, there stood a man,
Kissing my sweetheart as lovers can.
Down fell the glass, pet, broken, that’s all,
Just as my heart was after the ball.”
“Long years passed by, pet, I never wed,
True to my sweetheart though she was dead.
She tried to tell me, tied to explain,
I wouldn’t listen, pleadings in vain.”
“One day a letter came from that man.
He was her brother, so the letter ran.
That’s why I’m single, you know it all,
I broke her heart, pet, after the ball.”
November 1967
Lower Creek
Lenoir, NC