Winds Blew Across the Wild Moor (Mary Died at Her Father's Door)

On a cold winter's night
When the winds blew across the wild moor
Young Mary came wandering with her child in her arms
till she came to her own father's door

"Oh father, dear father," she cried
"Come down and open the door
Or the child in my arms, it will perish and die
By the winds that blow across the wild moor"

But the old man was deaf to her cries
Not a sound of her voice reached his ear
The watchdog did howl and the village bell tolled
And the winds blew across the wild moor

Oh, how must the old man have felt
When he came to the door in the morn?
Young Mary was dead, but the child was alive
Close pressed in its dead mother's arms

Ah, frenzied he tore his grey hairs
While the tears down his cheeks they did pour
Saying, "This cold winter's night, she has perished and died
By the winds that blew across the wild moor"

The old man grieved, pined away
And the child to its mother went soon
No on, they say, has lived there to this day
And the cottage has gone to ruin

And the villagers point out the spot
Where the willows weep o'er the door
Saying, "There Mary died, once a gay village bride
By the winds that blew across the wild moor"

printed in Folk Songs Out of Wisconsin
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