On a cold winter's night As the winds blew across the wild moor Poor Mary came wandering home with her child 'Til she came to her own father's door
Papa oh Papa she cried Come down and open the door Or the child in my arms Will perish and die From the winds that blow across the wild moor
But the old man was deaf to her cries And not a sound of her voice did he hear While the watchdog did howl And the village bell tolled The winds blew across the wild moor
Oh how the old man must have felt When he came to the door the next morn' And he found Mary dead But the child yet alive Clutched close to his dead mother's breast
Now the old man in grief pined away And the babe to its mother went soon And no one they say Has lived there to this day And the cottage is left to ruin
Now the villagers point out the place Where the ivy grows over the door Saying there Mary died Once a fair village bride From the winds that blew across the wild moor From the winds that blew across the wild moor