"When You and I Were Young, Maggie"

from UNFINISHED BUSINESS (1941)

music by James Austin Butterfield, lyrics by George W. Johnson (1866)

I wandered today to the hill, Maggie
To watch the scene below,
The creek and the creaking old mill, Maggie
Where we sat in the long, long ago.
The old grove is gone from the hill, Maggie
Where first the daisies sprung.
The creaking old mill is still, Maggie
Since you and I were young.

[A city so silent and lone, Maggie
Where the young and the gay and the best
In polished white mansion of stone, Maggie
Have each found a place of rest
Is built where the birds used to play, Maggie
And join in the songs that were sung.
For we sang just as gay as they, Maggie
When you and I were young.

They say I am feeble with age, Maggie.
My steps are less sprightly than then.
My face is a well written page, Maggie
But time alone was the pen.
They say we are aged and grey, Maggie
As spray by the white breakers flung.
But to me you're as fair as you were, Maggie
When you and I were young.

And now we are aged and grey, Maggie
The trials of life nearly done.
Let us sing of the days that are gone, Maggie
When you and I were young. ]

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