In fact, I never knew one;
And though I’ve loved a sweet mam’zelle
I’ve ne’er had pluck to woo one.
’Twas ever thus, ’twas ever thus
From boyhood’s early prime, sirs,
It’s been my fate to be too late—
I never was in time, sirs!
I never went to dance or ball,
But there I made a blunder;
My partners always had a fall,