Rose, Rose I love you with an aching heart.   What is your future, now we have to part?   Standing on the jetty as the steamer moves away,   Flower of Malaya, I cannot stay.       Mei Kwei, oh, Mei Kwei for my Eastern Rose.   Men crowd in dozens everywhere she goes.   In her rickshaw on the street or in a cabaret,   "Please Mei Kwei for Rose," you can hear them say.       All my life I shall remember,   Oriental music and you in my arms.   Perfumed flowers in your tresses,   Lotus-scented breezes and swaying palms.       Rose, Rose I love you with your almond eyes.   Fragrant and slender 'neath tropical sky.   I must cross the seas again and never see you more.   Way back to my home on a distant shore.       (All my life I shall remember,)   (Oriental music and you in my arms.)   (Perfumed flowers in your tresses,)   (Lotus-scented breezes and swaying palms.)       Rose, Rose I leave you, my ship is in the bay.   Kiss me farewell now, there's nothin' to say.   East is East and West is West, our worlds are far apart.   I must leave you now but I leave my heart.       Rose, Rose I love you with an aching heart.   What is your future, now we have to part?   Standing on the jetty as the steamer moves away,   Flower of Malaya, I cannot stay.       (Rose, Rose I love you, I cannot stay.)