Kep’ chokin’ fer a minute.

The lilock blossoms wuz in blow,

So sweet, with dewdrops beaded;

I handed ’im a bunch, an’ Joe

No other answer needed.

The year it passed, the war wuz come,

The soldiers fast enrollin’;

I heard the beatin’ of the drum,

I thought like church-bell tollin’.

I stood beside the lilock bush,