Poems (Dodd)/Song (Ne'er did the homage of my heart)

by Mary Ann Hammer Dodd

SONG. "Let others share thy brightest smiles,
But keep thy tears for me."

Ne'er did the homage of my heart, From thee one moment stray;Though bade to deem thee false and cold When thou wert far away:Yet was the memory of thy love, A sacred relic kept;While others sought my smiles to share, For thee alone I wept.

Long years had passed; again we met; And still my heart records,How chill the smile upon thy lip, How cold thy greeting words.I strove to veil my breaking heart, That none its wound might see,And when I smiled on all around, My tears were kept for thee.

Think not my love will wear away Like sands where waters lave, Or pass like morning mist, dispersed By sunbeams from the wave.Time tries his all-effacing power In vain on love like mine;Though few now win a smile from me, Still all my tears are thine.