Sweethearts

"Oh take this flow'r, dear love," said he,

He spake with a fearful sigh.

That night he was going across the sea,

And this was his last good-bye.

She took the gift with a mocking smile,

In the flush of her maiden pride,

With heartless guile she dallied awhile,

Then threw the flow'r aside.

Oh, love for a year, a week, a day,

But alas for the love that loves alway.

Give me a flow'r, dear love, said he,

She threw the flow'r he craved,

Now by the love that I have for thee,

My breaking heart is saved.

He kiss'd it once with a tender sigh,

And treasured it near his heart,

Tho' years roll by, this flow'r and I

Shall never, never part.

Oh, love for a year, a week, a day,

But alas for the love that loves alway.

They met again in the after years,

In life's sad sorrowful time;

Their heads were heavy with age and tears,

And white with the winter rime.

He found the flow'r she scorn'd in play,

At her faithful heart did dwell;

His flow'r, they say, He had cast away

Before its petals fell.

Oh, love for a year, a week, a day,

But alas for the love that loves alway.