When I am tired, and old and worn,
And harass'd by regret;
When blame, reproach, and worldlings' scorn
On every side are met;
When I have lived long years in vain
And found Life's garlands rue,
Maybe I'll come back again -
At last - at last - to you!


When all the joys and all the zest
Of youthful years have fled,
Maybe that I shall leave the rest
And turn to you instead;
For you, Dear Heart, would never spurn
(With condemnation due!)
If, at the close of all, I turn
Homeward - at last - to you!


When other faces turn away,
And lighter loves have passed;
When life is weary, cold, and gray -
I may come back - at last!
When cares, remorse, regrets are rife -
Too late to live anew -
In the sad twilight of my life
I will come back - to you!

While Yet We May

Ancient, wrinkled dames and jealous -
They whom joyless Age downcasts -
And the sere, gray-bearded fellows
Who would fain re-live their pasts -
These, the ancients, grimly tell us:
'Vows are vain, and no love lasts.'


Fleeting years fulfil Fate's sentence,
Eyes must dim, and hair turn gray,
Age bring wrinkles, p'rhaps repentance;
Youth shall quickly hie away,
And that time when youth has went hence,
We - and love - have had our day.


Let the world, and fuming, fretting,
Busy worldlings pass us by,
Bent on piles of lucre getting -
They shall lose it when they die;
Past and future, sweet! forgetting -
Seize the present ere it fly.


Your bright eyes are soft and smiling,
Pouting lips are moist and red,
And your whispers wondrous wiling -
Surely they would quick the dead -
And these hours they're now beguiling,
All too hasty will have fled.


Years may bring a dole of sorrow,
Time enough to fast and pray,
From the present pleasures borrow,
Let the distant future pay;
Leave the penance for the morrow,
Sweetheart! love and laugh to-day.