The sunshine of my heart

You make the sunshine of my heart

And its tempestuous shower;

Sometimes the thought of you is like

A lilac bush in flower,

Yea, honey-sweet as hives in May.

And then the pang of it will strike

My bosom with a fiery smart,

As though love's deeply planted dart

Drained all its life away.

My thoughts hum round you, Dear, like bees

About a bank of thyme,

Or round the yellow blossoms of

The heavy-scented lime.

Ah, sweeter you than honeydew,

Yet dark the ways of love,

For it has robbed my soul of peace,

And marred my life and turned heart's-ease

Into funereal rue.