[The ballroom was filled] with fashion's throng,
It shone with a thousand lights;
And there was a woman who passed along,
The fairest of all the sights.
A girl to her lover then softly said,
‘She has riches at her command.’
‘She married for wealth, not for love,’ he cried,
‘Though she lives in a mansion grand.’

‘She's only a bird in a gilded cage,
A beautiful sight to see.
You might think she's happy and free from care,
She's not, though she seems to be.
Tis sad when you think on her wasted life,
For youth cannot mate with age;
Her beauty was sold for an old man's gold,
She's a bird in a gilded cage.’

This beautiful woman surveyed the scene,
Her flatterers by the score.
Her gems were the purest, her gown divine,
And what could a woman want more?
But memory brings like the face of the lad
Whose love she had turned aside.
But happiness cannot be bought with gold,
Although she’s a rich man’s bride.

‘She's only a bird in a gilded cage,
A beautiful sight to see.
You might think she's happy and free from care,
She's not, though she seems to be.
Tis sad when you think on her wasted life,
For youth cannot mate with age;
Her beauty was sold for an old man's gold,
She's a bird in a gilded cage.’