Ladies' amusements/Lilies of the valley

LILIES OF THE VALLEY.

O’er barren hills and flowery dales,
⁠O’er seas and distant shores,
With merry song and jocued tales,
⁠I’ve pass’d some pleasant hours:
Tho’ wandring thus, I ne’er could fin
⁠A girl like blythesome Sally,
Who picks, and culls, and cries aloud,
⁠“Sweet lilies of the valley!"

From whistling o’er the harrow’d turf,
⁠From nestling in each tree
I chose a soldier’s life to wed,
⁠So social gay and free:
Yet though the lasses love as well,
⁠And often try to rally,
None pleases me like her that cries,
⁠"Sweet lilies of the valley!"

I’m now return’d of late discharged
⁠To use my native toil;
From fighting in my country's cause
⁠To plough my country’s soil:
I care not which—with either pleas’d,
⁠So I possess my Sally:
The little merry nymph that cries,
⁠"Sweet lilies of the valley!”

FINIS.