| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | A May Song | | By Mary M. Singleton (‘Violet Fane’) (1843–1905) |
| | | A LITTLE while my love and I, | |
| Before the mowing of the hay, | |
| Twined daisy-chains and cowslip-balls, | |
| And caroll’d glees and madrigals, | |
| Before the hay, beneath the may, | 5 |
| My love (who loved me then) and I. | |
| |
| For long years now my love and I | |
| Tread sever’d paths to varied ends; | |
| We sometimes meet, and sometimes say | |
| The trivial things of every day, | 10 |
| And meet as comrades, meet as friends, | |
| My love (who loved me once) and I. | |
| |
| But never more my love and I | |
| Will wander forth, as once, together, | |
| Or sing the songs we used to sing | 15 |
| In spring-time, in the cloudless weather: | |
| Some chord is mute that used to ring, | |
| Some word forgot we used to say | |
| Amongst the may, before the hay, | |
| My love (who loves me not) and I. | 20 | | | |
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