The Woman's Lament - Maria Muldaur

One day I was walking, I heard a complaining

And saw an old woman the picture of gloom

She gazed at the mud on her doorstep ('twas raining)

And this was her song as she wielded her broom

Life is a trial and love is a trouble

Beauty will fade and riches will flee

Pleasures they dwindle and prices they double

And nothing is as I would wish it to be.

There’s too much of worriment goes to a bonnet

There’s too much of ironing goes to a shirt

There’s nothing that pays for the time you waste on it

There’s nothing that last us but trouble and dirt.

Life is a trial and love is a trouble

Beauty will fade and riches will flee

Pleasures they dwindle and prices they double

And nothing is as I would wish it to be.

In March it is mud, it is slush in December

The midsummer breezes are loaded with dust

In fall the leaves litter, in muddy September

The wall paper rots and the candlesticks rust

Life is a trial and love is a trouble

Beauty will fade and riches will flee

Pleasures they dwindle and prices they double

And nothing is as I would wish it to be.

There are worms on the cherries and slugs on the roses

And ants in the sugar and mice in the pies

The rubbish of spiders no mortal supposes

And ravaging roaches and damaging flies

Life is a trial and love is a trouble

Beauty will fade and riches will flee

Pleasures they dwindle and prices they double

And nothing is as I would wish it to be.

It’s sweeping at six and it’s dusting at seven

It’s victuals at eight and it’s dishes at nine

It’s potting and panning form ten to eleven

We scarce break our fast till we plan how to dine

Life is a trial and love is a trouble

Beauty will fade and riches will flee

Pleasures they dwindle and prices they double

And nothing is as I would wish it to be.

With grease and with grime from corner to center

Forever at war and forever alert

No rest for a day lest the enemy enter

I spend my whole life in struggle with dirt

Life is a trial and love is a trouble

Beauty will fade and riches will flee

Pleasures they dwindle and prices they double

And nothing is as I would wish it to be.

Last night in my dreams I was stationed forever

On a far distant isle in the midst of the sea

My one chance of life was a ceaseless endeavor

To sweep off the waves as they swept over me

Alas!

Twas no dream;

ahead I behold it

I see I am helpless my fate to avert

She lay down her broom, her apron she folded

She lay down and died and was buried in dirt.

Life is a trial and love is a trouble

Beauty will fade and riches will flee

Pleasures they dwindle and prices they double

And nothing is as I would wish it to be.