To Lovers.
"A Penny for Your Thoughts" (1861)
Ballad.
Written & Composed
(Words and Music) by
Stephen Collins Foster, 1826-1864

1.
  A penny for your thoughts!
    For I know that your are dreaming:
Love's little, wicked darts are sporting with your brain;
  A penny for your thought!
    Thro' those eyes your heart is gleaming,
Longing to welcome back the starry night again.
  O'er meadows, thro' the dew
    You'll wander then with -- I know who,
Fair are her wavy locks as vapors on the hill;
  A penny for your thoughts!
    On thy lips a smile is beaming,
You'r sighing now for Jenny Dow, that lives beyond the mill.

2.
  A penny for your thoughts!
    Do you think that you will love her
When all those dreams have flitted from your heart?
  A penny for your thoughts!
    Will a halo beam above her,
When those delusive hopes and visions bright depart?
  When all blessings then as now,
    Seem to linger round her brow,
Or will they vanish like the bubbles on the rill?
  A penny for your thoughts!
    For your hearts a cruel rover,
'Tis beating now for Jenny Dowm that lives beyond the mill.

3.
  A penny for your thoughts!
    They are plain beyond concealing;
Who cannot read a sighing lover though and through?
  A penny for your thoughts!
    I have something worth revealing;
Fair maid though full of vows, are fickle and untrue;
  Now throw those flattering hopes away,
    Tomorrow's Jenny's wedding day --
One with a winning voice has gained her yielding will!
  A penny for your thoughts!
    On your mind a change is stealing,
What think you now of Jenny Dow, that lives beyond the mill?