On a dark lonely night on Crimea’s dread shores
There’d been bloodshed and strife on the morning before;
The dead and the dying lay bleeding around,
Some crying for help—there was none to be found
Now God in His mercy He pitied their cries,
And the soldiers so cheerful in the morning do rise.
So, forward my lads, may your hearts never fail
You are cheered by the presence of a sweet Nightingale.
Her heart it means good for no bounty she’ll take,
She’d lay down her life for the poor soldier’s sake;
She prays for the dying, she gives peace to the brave,
She feels that a soldier has a soul to be saved.
The wounded they lover [sic] her as it has been seen,
She’s the soldier’s preserver, they call her their Queen.
May heaven give her strength and her heart never fail.
One of Heaven’s best gifts is Miss Nightingale.
There’d been bloodshed and strife on the morning before;
The dead and the dying lay bleeding around,
Some crying for help—there was none to be found
Now God in His mercy He pitied their cries,
And the soldiers so cheerful in the morning do rise.
So, forward my lads, may your hearts never fail
You are cheered by the presence of a sweet Nightingale.
Her heart it means good for no bounty she’ll take,
She’d lay down her life for the poor soldier’s sake;
She prays for the dying, she gives peace to the brave,
She feels that a soldier has a soul to be saved.
The wounded they lover [sic] her as it has been seen,
She’s the soldier’s preserver, they call her their Queen.
May heaven give her strength and her heart never fail.
One of Heaven’s best gifts is Miss Nightingale.
From "Nightingale in Scutari: Her Legacy Reexamined" by Christopher Gill and Gillian Gill