After the Ball lyrics

A little maiden climbed an old man's knee

Begged for a story, "Do, uncle, please!

Why are you single, why live alone?

Have you no babies, have you no home?"

"I had a sweetheart, years, years ago

Where she is now, pet, you will soon know

List to the story, I'll tell it all

I believed her faithless after the ball

After the ball is over, after the break of morn

After the dancers' leaving, after the stars are gone

Many a heart is aching, if you could read them all

Many the hopes that have vanished after the ball

Bright lights were flashing in the grand ballroom

Softly the music, playing sweet tunes

There came my sweetheart, my love, my own

"I wish some water, leave me alone"

When I returned, dear, there stood a man

Kissing my sweetheart as lovers can

Down fell the glass, pet, broken, that's all

Just as my heart was after the ball

After the ball is over, after the break of morn

After the dancers' leaving, after the stars are gone

Many a heart is aching, if you could read them all

Many the hopes that have vanished after the ball

Long years have passed, child; I've never wed

True to my lost love, though she is dead

She tried to tell me, tried to explain

I would not listen, pleadings were vain

One day a letter came from that man

He was her brother, the letter ran

That's why I'm lonely, no home at all

I broke her heart, pet, after the ball

After the ball is over, after the break of morn

After the dancers' leaving, after the stars are gone

Many a heart is aching, if you could read them all

Many the hopes that have vanished after the ball"