In valleys green and still

In valleys green and still

Where lovers wander maying,

They hear from over hill

A music playing.

Behind the drum and fife,

Past hawthorn wood and hollow,

Through earth and out of life,

The soldiers follow.

The soldier's is the trade:

In any wind or weather

He steals the heart of maid

And man together.

The lover and his lass

Beneath the hawthorn lying

Have heard the soldiers pass,

And both are sighing.

And down the distance they,

With dying note and swelling,

Walk the resounding way

To the still dwelling.