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I had a guinea golden

I had a guinea golden -

I lost it in the sand -

And tho' the sum was simple

And pounds were in the land -

Still, had it such a value

Unto my frugal eye -

That when I could not find it -

I sat me down to sigh.

I had a crimson Robin -

Who sang full many a day

But when the woods were painted,

He, too, did fly away -

Time brought me other Robins -

Their ballads were the same -

Still, for my missing Troubadour

I kept the "house at hame."

I had a star in heaven -

One "Pleiad" was its name -

And when I was not heeding,

It wandered from the same.

And tho' the skies are crowded -

And all the night ashine -

I do not care about it -

Since none of them are mine.

My story has a moral -

I have a missing friend -

"Pleiad" its name, and Robin,

And guinea in the sand.

And when this mournful ditty

Accompanied with tear -

Shall meet the eye of traitor

In country far from here -

Grant that repentance solemn

May seize upon his mind -

And he no consolation

Beneath the sun may find.

c.1858

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