'Tis Hard To Give The Hand Where The Heart Can Never Be  

-song lyrics 
American Old-time song lyrics from www.traditionalmusic.co.uk 
'Tis Hard to Give the Hand Where the Heart Can Never Be. 
Tho' I mingle in the throng of the happy and the gay. From the mirth of dance and song I would fain be far away; For I love to use no wile, and I can but deem it sin That the brow would wear a smile when the soul is sad within; Tho' a parent's stern command claims obedience from me. Oh! 'tis hard to give the hand where the heart can never be; Oh! 'tis hard to give the band where the heart can never be; 
I have sighed and suffered long, yet have never told my grief, in the hope that for my wrong time itself will find relief. I will own no rebel thought, and I will not wear the chain That for me must still be fraught with but misery and pain; In all else I will be bland, but in this I must be free. And I will not give the band where the heart can never be, And I will not give the hand where the heart can never be.