The Banks of calm Bendemeer

There's a bower of roses,

by Bendemeer's Stream,

And the nightingale sings

'round it all the day long.

In the time of my childhood

'Twas sweet like a dream,

To sit by the roses

And hear the bird's song.

That bow'r and its music

I ne'er can forget,

But of when alone

In the bloom of the year

I think, "Is the nightingale

singing there yet?"

Are the roses still bright

by the calm Bendemeer?"

No, the roses soon withered

that hung o'er the wave,

But the blossoms were gathered

While freshly they shone,

And the dew was distilled

On the flowers, that gave

All the fragrance of summer -

when summer is gone.

Thus memory draws from delight

ere it dies,

An essence that breathes

of it many a year.

Thus, bright to my soul

as 'twas then to my eyes,

Is that bow'r on the banks

of the calm Bendemeer.