The Linden Tree

Upon a distant hillside
there stands a linden tree.
As children we would play there
my friends and you and me.
We thought that it would never end
for children never see.
We thought that we would always play
around the linden tree, around the linden tree.
One day your eyes were misty
as eyes can sometimes be.
You told me that you loved me
beside the linden tree.
I thought you’d always be around
for lovers never see.
I thought our children soon would play
around the linden tree, around the linden tree.
But then the trumpet sounded
and love was not to be.
The call to death or glory
took you away from me.
You thought that you would never die
for soldiers never see.
But we will never meet again
beneath the linden tree, beneath the linden tree.
And now I lay my flowers
beside the linden tree