Lorena

Oh, the years creep slowly by, Lorena
The snow is on the ground again
The sun's low down the sky, Lorena
The frost gleams where the flow'rs have been
But the heart beats on as warmly now
As when the summer days were nigh
Oh, the sun can never dip so low
A-down affection's cloudless sky

A hundred months have passed, Lorena
Since last I held that hand in mine
And felt the pulse beat fast, Lorena
Though mine beat faster far than thine
A hundred months, 'twas flowery May
When up the hilly slope we climbed
To watch the dying of the day
And hear the distant church bells chime

We loved each other then, Lorena
Far more than we ever dared to tell;
And what we might have been, Lorena
Had but our loving prospered well --
But then, 'tis past, the years are gone
I'll not call up their shadowy forms;
I'll say to them, "Lost years, sleep on!
Sleep on! nor heed life's pelting storms."

The story of that past, Lorena
Alas! I care not to repeat
The hopes that could not last, Lorena
They lived, but only lived to cheat
I would not cause e'en one regret
To rankle in your bosom now;
For "if we try we may forget,"
Were words of thine long years ago

Yes, these were words of thine, Lorena
They burn within my memory yet;
They touched some tender chords, Lorena
Which thrill and tremble with regret
'Twas not thy woman's heart that spoke;
Thy heart was always true to me:
A duty, stern and pressing, broke
The tie which linked my soul with thee

It matters little now, Lorena
The past is in the eternal past;
Our heads will soon lie low, Lorena
Life's tide is ebbing out so fast
There is a Future! O, thank God!
Of life this is so small a part!
'Tis dust to dust beneath the sod;
But there, up there, 'tis heart to heart