Grandma told me all about it;
Told me so I couln't doubt it ~
How she danced ~ my grandma danced ~
Long ago.
How she held her pretty head,
How her dainty skirt she spread,
How she turned her little toes,
Smiling like a human rose!
Long ago.

Grandma's hair was bright and sunny,
Dimpled cheek, too ~ oh, how funny~
Really, quite a pretty girl,
Long ago.
Bless her! Why, she wears a cap,
Grandma does, and takes a nap
Every single day; and yet
Grandma danced the minuet
Long ago.

Now she sits there rocking, rocking,
Always knitting grandpa's stocking,
(Every girl was taught to knit
Long ago.)
Yet her figure is so neat,
And her smile so kind and sweet,
I can almost see her now,
Bending to her partner's bow,
Long ago.

Grandma says our modern jumping,
Hopping, rushing, whirling, bumping,
Would have shocked the gentle folk,
Long ago.
No ~ they moved with stately grace,
Everything in proper place,
Gliding slowly forward, then
Slowly curtsying back again,
Long ago.

Modern ways are quite alarming,
Grandma say; but boys were charming ~
Girls and boys, I mean, of course ~
Long ago.
Bravely modest, grandly shy ~
What if all of us should try
Just to feel like those who met
In the graceful minuet
Long ago.

With the minuet in fashion,
Who could fly into a passion?
All would wear the calm they wore
Long ago.
In time to come, if I perchance
Should tell my grandchild of our dance,
I should really like to say,
"We did, my dear, in some such way,
Long ago."

- Author Unknown