Too late

When your hand was laid upon mine

'Twas in painful dread that I grasped it,

For some hesitation malign,

Made tremble the fingers that clasped it.

When you turned your forehead so near,

Twas in painful dread that I kissed it,

For some cruel prompting of fear

Made me timidly seek to resist it.

Ah! and my life thence forward approved

Sorrows bitterness had o'ercome me,

I only knew how I loved

The day that had taken you from me.