Crazy Jane : a favorite ballad

"Stay, fair maid! On every feature,

Why are marks of dread imprest?

Can a wretched, helpless creature

Raise such terrors in your breast?

Do my frantic looks alarm you?

Trust me, sweet, your fears are vain:

Not for kingdoms would I harm you --

Shun not then poor Crazy Jane.

"Dost thou weep to see my anguish?

Mark me, and escape my woe:

When men flatter, sigh, and languish,

Think them false -- I found them so!

For I loved, Oh! so sincerely,

None will ever love again;

Yet the man I prized most dearly

Broke the heart of Crazy Jane.

"Gladly that young heart received him,

Which has never loved but one;

He seemed true, and I believed him --

He was false, and I undone!

Since that hour has reason never

Held her empire o'er my brain.

Henry fled! -- With him, for ever,

Fled the wits of Crazy Jane.

"Now forlorn and broken-hearted,

Still with frenzied thoughts beset,

Near the spot where last we parted,

Near the spot where first we met,

Thus I chant my lovelorn ditty,

While I sadly pace the plain;

And each passer by, in pity,

Cries 'God help thee, Crazy Jane!'"