Folk Song

Now time has gathered to itself
The lily and the rose,
To mould upon a dusty shelf
Where no man knows.

Now all things lovely fail and wane,
The tender petals close,
And in the dawn shall bloom again
No lily, no rose.

Now from the garden of your face
The lily and the rose
Are gathered to a dusty place
Where no man knows.

* * *

The stars came, but her Love came never,
And standing there on the bank of the river,
“Come back!” she said to the waves of the river,
But they hurried away and they came back never.
“You come not back to the land of my lover,”
She said to the hurrying waves of the river,
“Then will I go with you, waves of the river,
To oceans far from the land of my lover.”
Under the starlight the girl and the river
Hurry away and they come back never.