Once I had a sweetheart
A sweetheart brave and true
His hair was dark and curly
His loving eyes were blue

He told me that he loved me
And he often proved it so
And he often came to see me
When the evening sun was low

But fate took him away
To this awful German war
And when he came to say goodbye
My heart did overflow

He says, "Goodbye, little darling
To France I must go"

He takes the golden finger ring
And he placed it on my hand
Said, "Remember me, little darling
When I'm in no man's land"

He promised he would write to me
That promise he's kept to
And when I read this letter, friend
I pray the war is through
The second letter I got from him
The war was just ahead
The third one, wrote by his captain
My darling dear was dead

I'll keep all of his letters
I'll keep his gold ring, too
And I'll always live a single life
For the soldier who was so true