Hard Times Come Again No More
Stephen C. Foster, 1854


Let us pause in life's pleasures
And count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
There's a song that will linger
Forever in our ears;
Oh hard times come again no more.

While we seek mirth and beauty
And music light and gay,
There are frail forms fainting at the door;
Though their voices are silent,
Their pleading looks will say
Oh hard times come again no more.
  There's a pale drooping maiden
Who toils her life away,
With a worn heart whose better days are o'er:
Though her voice would be merry,
'tis sighing all the day,
Oh hard times come again no more.

Tis a sigh that is wafted
Across the troubled wave,
Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore
Tis a dirge that is murmured
Around the lowly grave
Oh hard times come again no more.
 


Refrain:
Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
Hard times, hard times,
Come again no more
Many days you have lingered
Around my cabin door;
Oh hard times come again no more.