Once I was happy but now I'm forlorn
Like an old coat that is tattered and torn;
Left on this world to fret and to mourn,
Betrayed by a maid in her teens.
The girl that I loved she was handsome;
I tried all I knew her to please
But I could not please her one quarter so well
As the man upon the trapeze.
He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease,
That daring young man on the flying trapeze.
His movements are graceful, all girls he does please
And my love he has purloined away.
Her father and mother were both on my side
And very hard tried to make her my bride;
Her father he sighed, and her mother she cried,
To see her throw herself away.
'Twas to no avail, she went there every night,
And would throw him bouquets on the stage,
Which caused him to meet her; how he ran me down,
To tell you would take a whole page.
He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease,
That daring young man on the flying trapeze.
His movements are graceful, all girls he does please
And my love he has purloined away.
One night I as usual went to her dear home,
Found there her father and mother alone.
I asked for my love, and it soon was made known,
To my horror that she'd run away.
She'd packed up her box and eloped in the night
With him, with the greatest of ease;
From two stories high he had lowered her down
To the ground on his flying trapeze.
He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease,
That daring young man on the flying trapeze.
His movements are graceful, all girls he does please
And my love he has purloined away.
Some Months after that I went down to the hall
And to my surprise, I saw on the wall
A bill in red letters that did my heart gall
That she was appearing with him.
He had taught her gymnastics and dressed her in tights
To help him to live at his ease
And he made her assume a masculine name
And now she goes on the trapeze.
He'd fly through the air with the greatest of ease,
That daring young man on the flying trapeze.
His movements are graceful, all girls he does please
And my love he has purloined away.
