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Bill Pittendrigh Bathurst Macquarie Home 1973 Only a LeafIn a broken down attic with the walls grim and bareWhere the sunshine it seldom does stray On a mattress of straw that lay on the floor And old man was lying one day They said he was dying and clasped in his hand Was a bible all withered and old And beneath one torn page and rose leaf was found And this is the story it told Only a leaf, arch but oh what grief It was worn in the dear days gone by Once it was red now it's faded and dead And the woman who wore it lays low It was worn by a beautiful angel Who should have been my wife Only a leaf of that rosebud But it changed the whole course of my life I once had a sweetheart, the dying man said Also a rival I knew, he was lordly and grand Wonderful things gold will do, He had wealth at his command I proposed and she answered "tonight at the ball I will wed you if a white rose I wear But if it be red, Lord Darnley I'll wed" That night the leaf fell from her hair To seek consolation I roamed o'er the sea And a wild reckless life I led Till a few years ago, I returned to my home To find my lost darling was dead She married my rival her father to save From shame and disgrace so folks say But it broke his sad heart and like that rose leaf He withered and faded away |