Oh, take some other man, be at your leisure
That the fruits of life you might more readily enjoy;
And blossom in your spring, yet reaping flowers
Erst the snow collects me when the rose still blooms for
you.
Feel no regret as you behold the wake
Forget remorse as I fade from view,
Know no loss in what you must forsake
While God and Nature take me far from you.
I would have tarried one more hour,
A day, a week, a month just to be at your side,
But the heat will follow summer's ev'ry shower
My dissolution comes across the years, I cannot hide.
This old heart aches and breaks and wishes for a dream,
Where you and I could be as one,
But I am neither fool nor madman
Lucid reality has us all undone.
But feel no grief when I'm not with you,
And do not cry when I no longer ramble on;
there are years that were meant just for you,
And I'm not made to see the dawn.
I had my time, I laughed, I frolicked,
I jumped in joy as youth is wont to do;
But sad it is I never knew the season
Where I could love someone as I did you.