Lately last night, I was asked to a wedding,
The wedding of one who proved unkind,
For all that day as she thought of her bridegroom,
Thoughts of another one strayed through her mind.
Supper being over, and all things were ended,
Every young man was to sing a song,
Until it came time for the maiden's ex-lover,
And the song that he sang to the bride did belong.
"How can you sit at another man's table?
How can you drink of another man's wine?
How can you lie in the arms of another?
Many the nights that you lay in mine.
Many the ones have been seven years parted,
And many the ones have then returned,
I have been only two years away, love,
And what have you done now that I have returned?"
The bride, she sat at the head of that table,
Very well she knew who the song was for,
At the end of the song, she could stand it no longer,
At the end of the song, she had dropped to the floor.
Sobbing and sighing, she rose from the table,
And sobbing and sighing, she rose from the bed,
Early next morning her bridegroom awakened,
And he turned to embrace her and found she was dead.
"Annie, dear Annie, I know you never loved me,
My love and your love could never agree;
I knew all along that your poor heart was breaking,
Never again will I go between the bark and the tree.
"And now I must wear a cloth of deep mourning,
A cloth of deep mourning and One, Two, and Three,
I must wear to her wake my own wedding garment,
Never again will I go between the bark and the tree.
"Annie, dear Annie, I know you never loved me,
My love and your love could never agree;
I knew all along that your poor heart was breaking,
Never again will I go between the bark and the tree."