Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
Darby and Joan

Darby and Joan

Darby and Joan
 (words: F.E. Weatherly music: L. Molloy)
 from Heartsongs, Chapple Publishing Co., 1909

 Darby dear, we are old and gray,
 Fifty years since our wedding day,
 Shadow and sun for everyone
 As the years roll on;
 Darby dear, when the world went wry,
 Hard and sorrowful then was I.
 Ah, lad, how your cheered me then.
 "Things will be better, sweet wife, again!".

 Cho: Always the same, Darby my own,
     Always the same to your old wife Joan,
     Always the same to your old wife Joan.

 Darby dear, but my heart was wild
 When we buried our baby child,
 Until you whispered "Heaven knows best!"
 And my heart found rest;
 Darby dear, 'twas your loving hand
 Showed me the way to the better land;
 Ah! lad, as you kissed each tear,
 Life grew better and heaven more near.

 Hand in hand when our life was May,
 Hand in hand when our hair is gray,
 Shadow and sun for everyone
 As the years roll on;
 Hand in hand when the long night-tide
 Gently covers us side by side;
 Ah! lad, though we know not when,
 Love will be with us forever then.

 JRO
oct99