Explore "The Scarlet Gown: THE BANISHED BEJANT FROM THE UNPUBLISHED REMAINS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE" by Robert Fuller Murray on Textopian.
I loved a little maiden / In the golden years gone by; / She lived in a mill, as they all do / (There is doubtless a reason why). / But she faded in the autumn / When the leaves began to fade, / And the night before she faded, / These words to me she said: / 'Do not forget me, Henry, / Be noble and brave and true; / But I must not bide, for the world is wide, / And the sky above is blue.'
So I said farewell to my darling, / And sailed away and came back; / And the good ship _Jane_ was in port again, / And I found that they all loved Jack. / But Polly and I were sweethearts, / As all the neighbours know, / Before I met with the mill-girl / Twenty years ago. / So I thought I would go and see her, / But alas, she had faded too! / She could not bide, for the world was wide, / And the sky above was blue.