Songs of Love and Rebellion/Rose leaves
ROSE LEAVES
You still rest here, where she placed you, long ago,
When the fields were white with blossoms and my heart was all aglow;
When the lovelight softly trembled in my sweetheart's dreamy eyes,
And the deamer's spirit loitered at the gates of Paradise.
O rose leaves! you still bind me with the dreams that held me fast,
When my sweetheart leaned above me in the gardens of the past;
And the soul of mem'ry leads me where the summer sunlight shines
And the air is heavy-laden with the fragrance of the pines.
O the days that long have vanished! O the light that died away,
When the mystic lovelight faded from her dreamy eyes for aye!
O the fading of the roses! O the ages that have flown,
And the sorrow and the shadow that the dreamer's heart has known!