Lyrics of joy / by Frank Dempster Sherman [electronic text]

FOR MUSIC

LOVE'S SPRINGTIDE

MY heart was winter-bound until I heard you sing: O voice of Love, hush not, but fill My life with Spring!

My hopes were homeless things before I saw your eyes: O smile of Love, close not the door To paradise!

My dreams were bitter once, and then I found them bliss: O lips of Love, give me again Your rose to kiss!

Springtide of love! The secret sweet Is ours alone: O heart of Love, at last you beat Against my own!

TO HER

MY songs are all for her Whose love I fain would win: Each to her heart, a wanderer, Goes singing: Let me in!

Her eyes my beacons be, Her lips my rosy guides, And in her heart a melody For every word abides.

Be brave, be brave, my song, Nor falter in the quest: Love in her heart has waited long To greet the singing guest.

And be it yours to know The latch lift on the door; Once in her heart — Go, lyric, go! Be hers for evermore!

MY APRIL

SWEETHEART, comes laughing April now To right the Winter's wrong; And back to the forsaken bough The bluebird comes with song: And, rivals of the stars above, Stars in the grass you see; So, like your namesake, April, Love — My April, come to me!

She brings the blossom to the vine, A token fresh and new; She fills the crocus cup with wine, A pledge that she is true; She sends the sunshine after rain, A golden augury: Sweetheart, and must I plead in vain? My April, come to me!

Oh, Winter lies upon my heart A dreariness and woe: It needs but your dear smile to start The buds of hope to blow; It needs but your sweet lips to bringThe message that shall be Like April's own, all love and Spring: My April, come to me!

A MAY MADRIGAL

SWEETHEART, the buds are on the tree, The birds are back once more, And with their songs they call to me To open wide my door: So wide shall stand the door to-day Because my heart is true To bud and bird, to mirth and May, And, most of all, to You!

Sweetheart, the leaves begin to show, The grass is green again, And on the breeze sweet odors blow From wild flowers in the glen: The world is glad with voice and wing, And all the skies are blue; The scent, the song, the soul of Spring, I find them all in You!

Sweetheart, the snows have gone, and now It is the mating time. Hark to the lover on the bough, What melody sublime! What ecstasy of passion, pride, And love and rapture, too! So door and heart stand open wide To welcome May and You!

NOCTURNE

ABOVE the sea in splendor The new moon hangs alone, A silver crescent slender Set in a sapphire zone; Around me breathe the tender, Sweet zephyrs of the south: Night will not let My heart forget Her kisses and her mouth.

The loose sails idly swinging, The ship lights' glow and gleam, The bell-buoys' muffled ringing, Drive all my thoughts to dream, — To dream of her voice singing The songs I love the best: Night will not let My heart forget Where she has made her nest!

O Love, where art thou biding While hangs this moon on high? Star in the twilight hiding, Come forth and light the sky Above the ship slow gliding Over the southern sea: Night will not let My heart forget Love's eyes that shine for me!

MEMORIES

As Love and I went walking Along the sea's gray shore, We heard the green waves talking, And love was all their lore.

The purple shadows shifted, And through the twilight long From singing stars there drifted Our sweet betrothal song.

But once, in days long after, We walked there, Love and I; The waves had lost their laughter, The stars were hushed on high

And each remembered only A little voice — oh, years, How long they are, and lonely! Oh, heart, how full of tears!

A SONG'S ECHO

MY Love is like a Winter rose That sweetly blooms alone, That has of rivals none, and knows A beauty all her own.

My Love is like a tender tune That wakens tender words, And fills December full of June, And brings again the birds.

Her smile, my sun; her voice, my song; Her face, my flower of bliss;Oh, who could find the Winter long With such a Love as this!

WITH ROSES

HERE are roses red, For their fragrance love them: When you bend your head Tenderly above them, To your own lips, sweet, Lift them up and hold them While their lips repeat What my heart has told them.

Grant them of your grace, With your beauty bless them, Fold them to your face, Kiss them, and caress them. Brief their day, and so Only gladness give them, Yours the joy to know Love that shall outlive them.

TWO SONGS

I

HER greeting is a dulcet bell — Love's daybreak and delight; Her smile is noon, and her farewell Leads in the stars at night. She is the sunrise and the gleam Of dew upon the rose, The vision that evokes the dream, The song in slumber's prose.

II

Roses are the rhymes I wreathe — Take them, every one; Love — the fragrance that you breathe, And your smile their sun. When the petals fall apart, Then in melody, You shall read a rose's heart, And the heart of me.