A little maiden climbed an old man's knee,
Begged for a story, "Do, Uncle, please."
Why are you single; Why live alone?
Have you no babies, have you no home?"

"I had a sweetheart, years, years ago:
Where she is now, pet, you soon will know.
List to the story, I'll tell it all.
I believed her faithless, after the Ball."

After the ball is over
After the break of dawn
After the dancer's leaving
After the stars are gone
Many a heart is aching
If you could read them all
Many the hopes that have vanished
After the ball.

Bright lights were flashing in the grand ballroom
Softly the music, playing sweet tunes
There came my sweetheart, my love, my own
I wished some water, left her alone

When I returned, dear, there stood a man
Kissing my sweetheart, as lovers can
Down fell the glass, pet, broken that's all
Just as my heart was, after the ball

After the ball is over
After the break of dawn
After the dancer's leaving
After the stars are gone
Many a heart is aching
If you could read them all
Many the hopes that have vanished
After the ball.

Long years have passed, child, I've never wed
True to my lost love, though she is dead
She tried to tell me, tried to explain
I would not listen, pleadings were in vain

One day a letter came from that man
He was her brother, the letter ran
That's why I'm lonely, not home at all
I broke her heart, After the ball

After the ball is over
After the break of dawn
After the dancer's leaving
After the stars are gone
Many a heart is aching
If you could read them all
Many the hopes that have vanished
After the ball.

After the ball is over
After the break of dawn
After the dancer's leaving
After the stars are gone
Many a heart is aching
If you could read them all
Many the hopes that have vanished
After the ball.