New Orleans Tale

Here where the Mississippi
 Snakes past the crescent city
 A story I will tell you
 Of love and fallen glory
 She was a southern beauty
 Well-born and scorning duty
 He was a rich landowner
 Well-learned and growing older
 They were married on August first
 A month of thirst
 She spilled wine on her satin gown
 From London town
 His name was Almonaster
 The city's fencing-master
 One day in early spring
 She flung aside her ring
 I will love you although
 My fate will make us wait
 He grows older and someday
 He'll pass away
 When the landowner
 Learned of her betrayal
 He took action but
 Knowing he would fail
 Beneath the dueling oaks
 A crowd of somber folks
 Watched Almonaster win
 The rich man had met his end
 Almonaster was tried
 And found guilty
 From the gallows he swung until
 He was still
 In her sorrow she leapt into
 The river
 Now their bodies lie
 In marble side by side