Lost Love
It was a summer ago when he left me here-A summer of smiles, with never a tear
Till I said to him, with a sob, my dear,-
Good-by, my lover; good-by!
For I loved him, O as the stars love night!
And my cheeks for him flashed red and white
When first he called me his Heart's delight,-
Good-by, my lover; good-by!
The touch of his hand was a thing divine
As he sat with me in the soft moonshine
And drank of my love as men drink wine-
Good-by, my lover; good-by!
And never a night as a I knelt in prayer
In thought as white as our own souls were,
But in fancy he came and he kissed me there,-
Good-by, my lover; good-by!
But now-ah, now! what an empty place
My whole heart is!-Of the old embrace
And the kiss I loved there lives no trace-
Good-by, my lover; good-by!
He sailed not over the stormy sea,
And he went not down in the waves-not he-
But O, he is lost-for he married me-
Good-by, my lover; good-by!
-
---James Whitcomb Riley
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