The Itinerant Singing Girl

Fatherless and motherless, no brothers have I, And all my little sisters in the cold grave lie; Wasted with hunger I saw them falling dead -- Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed. Friendless and loverless, I wander to and fro, Singing while my faint heart is breaking fast with woe, Smiling in my sorrow, and singing for my bread -- Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed. Harp clang and merry song by stranger's door and board, None ask wherefore tremble my pale lips at each word; None care why the color from my wan cheek has fled -- Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed. Smiling and singing still, tho' hunger, want, and woe, Freeze the young life-current in my veins as I go; Begging for my living, yet wishing I were dead -- Lonely and bitter are the tears I shed.