O tell me, friends, while yet we part
And heart can yet be heard of heart,
O tell me, friends, for what is it
Our early hopes so soon we quit,
So easily so far have ranged,
And why is it that all has changed?
O tell me, friends, while yet we part.

O tell me, friends, while yet ye hear,
May it not be some coming year,
These ancient paths that here divide
Shall yet again run side by side,
And you from there and I from here
All on a sudden reappear?
O tell me, friends, while yet ye hear.

O tell me, friends, ere words are o'er,
There's something in me sad and sore
Repines, and underneath my eyes
I feel a somewhat that would rise,—
O tell me, O my friends, and you,
Do you feel nothing like it too?
O tell me, friends—Ye hear no more.—