Here to-day and gone to-morrow

And so they passed from Farthinghoe

When morning broke across the plain,

And like the pilgrims of long ago,

They took the onward road again

To other hamlets far away

Where they might beg, or steal or borrow

For strolling mountebanks were they,

And here today and gone tomorrow.

And all the folk of kindly heart

Sped on their way the motley show,

Save one small maid who stole apart

To shed a tear for Romeo.

But comrades of so short a stay

Can part with but a fleeting sorrow,

For strolling mountebanks were they,

And here today and gone tomorrow.

Strolling mountebanks were they

Who halted here a day.

And so this troupe of mountebanks

They passed 'way o'er the plain

By Winchester and Wessex Weald,

In sun, in wind and rain.