I cannot sing tonight

Kind lady, ask me not to sing

The joys of other days;

Chide not my muse, though she refuse

To bask in Memory's rays.

I would that all my youthful joys

Could vanish from my sight;

For ah! my heart is very sad:

I cannot sing tonight.

I cannot, I cannot, cannot sing tonight;

For ah! my heart is very sad:

I cannot sing tonight.

Sing last we met, ten thousand joys

Have faded from our view;

The magic of our youth has fled,

Our eyes have shed their dew.

Since last we met, ten thousand griefs

On me have spent their might;

But ah! my heart is very sad:

I cannot sing tonight.

I cannot, I cannot, cannot sing tonight;

For ah! my heart is very sad:

I cannot sing tonight.