The fields are fair in autumn yet, and the sun's still shining there
But we bow our heads and we brood and fret, because of the masks we wear
Or we nod and smile the social while, and we say we're doing well
But we break our hearts, oh, we break our hearts! for the things we must not tell
There's the old love wronged ere the new was won, there's the light of long ago
There's the cruel lie that we suffer for, and the public must not know
So we go through life with a ghastly mask, and we're doing fairly well
While they break our hearts, oh, they k** our hearts! do the things we must not tell
We see but pride in a selfish breast, while a heart is breaking there
Oh, the world would be such a kindly world if all men's hearts lay bare!
We live and share the living lie, we are doing very well
While they eat our hearts as the years go by, do the things we dare not tell
We bow us down to a dusty shrine, or a temple in the East
Or we stand and drink to the world-old creed, with the coffins at the feast
We fight it down, and we live it down, or we bear it bravely well
But the best men die of a broken heart for the things they cannot tell