Mary of the Wild Moor

It was on a cold winter's night
When the wind blew across the wild moor
When poor Mary came wanderin' home with her child
Till she came to her father's own door

Oh, why did I leave this fair spot
Where once I was happy and free
I am now doomed to roam without friends or a home
And noone to take pity on me

Oh father, dear father, she cried
Come down and open the door
For the child in my arms, it will perish an' die
From the winds that blow 'cross the wild moor

But the old man was deaf to her cries
Not a sound of her voice did he hear
Though the watchdogs did howl and the village bell tolled
And the wind blew across the wild moor

Oh, how the old man must have felt
When he came to the door the next morn
And he found Mary dead, but the child still alive
Closely clasped in its dead mother's arms

In anguish he tore his gray hair
And the tears down his cheeks they did pour
When he saw how that night she had perished and died
From the winds that blow 'cross the wild moor

The old man with grief pined away
An' the child to its mother went soon
And no one, they say, has lived there to this day
And the cottage has fallen to ruin

But the villagers point out the spot
Where the willows droop over the door
Saying, there Mary died, once the gay village bride
From the winds that blow 'cross the wild moor