Love's Pains
1
This love, I canna' bear it,
It cheats me night and day;
This love, I canna' wear it,
It takes my peace away.
2
This love, wa' once a flower;
But now it is a thorn, —
The joy o' evening hour,
Turn'd to a pain e're morn.
3
This love, it wa' a bud,
And a secret known to me;
Like a flower within a wood;
Like a nest within a tree.
4
This love, wrong understood,
Oft' turned my joy to pain;
I tried to throw away the bud,
But the blossom would remain.
First Love
I ne'er was struck before that hour
With love so sudden and so sweet
Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower
And stole my heart away complete
My face turned pale as deadly pale
My legs refused to walk away
And when she looked what could I ail
My life and all seemed turned to clay
And then my blood rushed to my face
And took my eyesight quite away
The trees and bushes round the place
Seemed midnight at noon day
I could not see a single thing
Words from my eyes did start
They spoke as chords do from the string
And blood burnt round my heart
Are flowers the winters choice
Is love's bed always snow
She seemed to hear my silent voice
Not loves appeals to know
I never saw so sweet a face
As that I stood before
My heart has left its dwelling place
And can return no more —
To Mary
1
I sleep with thee, and wake with thee,
And yet thou art not there: —
I fill my arms, with thoughts of thee,
And press the common air. —
Thy eyes are gazing upon mine,
When thou art out of sight;
My lips are always touching thine,
At morning, noon, and night.
2
I think, and speak, of other things,
To keep my mind at rest:
But still to thee, my memory clings,
Like love in womans breast; —
I hide it from the worlds-wide eye;
And think, and speak contrary;
But soft, the wind comes from the sky,
And whispers tales of Mary. —
3
The night wind whispers in my ear,
The moon shines in my face;
A burden still of chilling fear,
I find in every place. —
The breeze is wispering in the bush;
And the dew-fall from the tree,
All; sighing on, and will not hush,
Some pleasant tales of thee. —
Mary
1
It is the evening hour,
How silent all doth lie,
The horned moon she shews her face,
In the river, with the sky;
Just by the path on which we pass,
The flaggy lake, lies still, as glass.
2
Spirit of her I love,
Wispering to me:
Stories of sweet visions, as I rove:
Here stop and crop with me,
Sweet flowers, that in the still hour grew,
We'll take them home, nor shake off the bright dew.
3
Mary, or sweet spirit of thee,
As the bright sun shines tomorrow;
Thy dark eyes these flowers shall see,
Gathered by me in sorrow,
In the still hour, when my mind was free,
To walk alone — yet wish I walk'd with thee.
Stanzas
1
Black absence hides upon the past
I quite forget thy face
And memory like the angry blast
Will love's last smile erace
I try to think of what has been
But all is blank to me
And other faces pass between
My early love and thee
2
I try to trace thy memory now
And only find thy name
Those inky lashes on thy brow
Black hair, and eyes the same
Thy round pale face of snowy dyes
There's nothing paints thee there
A darkness comes before my eyes
For nothing seems so fair
3
I knew thy name so sweet and young
'Twas music to my ears
A silent word upon my tongue
A hidden thought for years
Dark hair and lashes swarthy too
Arched on thy forehead pale
All else is vanished from my view
Like voices on the gale
Song
I hid my love when young while I
Coud'nt bear the buzzing of a flye
I hid my love to my despite
Till I could not bear to look at light
I dare not gaze upon her face
But left her memory in each place
Where ere I saw a wild flower lye
I kissed and bade my love good bye
I met her in the greenest dells
Where dew drops pearl the wood blue bells
The lost breeze kissed her bright blue eye
The Bee kissed and went singing bye
A sun beam found a passage there
A gold chain round her neck so fair
As secret as the wild bees song
She lay there all the summer long
I hid my love in field and town
Till e'en the breeze would knock me down
The Bees seemed singing ballads oe'r
The flyes buzz turned a Lions roar
And even silence found a tongue
To haunt me all the summer long
The Riddle nature could not prove
Was nothing else but secret love
Song
In this cold world without a home
Disconsolate I go
The summer looks as cold to me
As winters frost and snow
Though winters scenes are dull and drear
A colder lot I prove
No home had I through all the year
But Marys honest love
But Love inconstant as the wind
Soon shifts another way
No other home my heart can find
Life wasting day by day
I sigh and sit and sit and sigh
For better days to come
For Mary was my hope and joy
Her truth and heart my home
Her truth and heart was once my home
And May was all the year
But now through seasons as I roam
Tis winter everywhere
Hopeless I go through care and toil
No friend I e'er possest
To reccompence for Marys smile
And the love within her breast
My love was ne'er so blest as when
It mingled with her own
Told often to be told agen
And every feeling known
But now loves hopes are all bereft
A lonely man I roam
And abscent Mary long hath left
My heart without a home
Fragment
Love's memories haunt my footsteps still
Like ceaseless flowings of the river
Its mystic depths say what can fill?
Sad disappointment waits for ever
Song
Love lives beyond
The tomb — the earth — which fades like dew
I love the fond
The faithful and the true
Love lives in sleep
The happiness of healthy dreams
Eve's dews may weep
But love delightfull seems
Tis seen in flowers
And in the evens pearly dew
On earths green hours
And in the heavens eternal blue
Tis heard in spring
When light and sunbeams warm and kind
On angels wing
Bring love and music to the mind
And where is voice
So young and beautifully sweet
As natures choice
When spring and lovers meet
Love lives beyond
The tomb the earth the flowers and dew
I love the fond
The faithfull young and true
Song
Say What Is Love — To Live In Vain
To Live And Die And Live Again
Say What Is Love — Is It To Be
In Prison Still And Still Be Free
Or Seem As Free — Alone And Prove
The Hopeless Hopes of Real Love
Doe's Real Love On Earth Exist
Tis Like A Sun beam On The Mist
That Fades And No Where Will Remain
And Nowhere Is Oertook Again
Say What Is Love — A Blooming Name
A Rose Leaf On The Page Of Fame
That Blooms Then Fades — To Cheat No More
And Is What Nothing Was Before
Say What Is Love — What E'er It be
It Center's Mary Still With Thee
Silent Love
1
The dew it trembles on the thorn
Then vanishes so love is born
Young love that speaks in silent thought
'Till scorned, then withers and is nought
2
The pleasure of a single hour
The blooming of a single flower
The glitter of the morning dew
Such is young love when it is new
3
The twitter of the wild birds wing
The murmur of the bees
Lays of hay crickets when they sing
Or other things more frail than these
4
Such is young love when silence speaks
Till weary with the joy it seeks
Then fancy shapes supplies
'Till sick of its own heart it dies
5
The dew drop falls at mornings hour
When none are standing by
And noiseless fades the broken flower
So lovers in their silence die