Henry Clay Work: Verses about Love

Last night, mother, he told me so,
As we walked by the pebbly stream;
And I wake so happy--so wild with joy,
It seems like a fairy dream.
But his charming voice is ringing in my ear,
As a dream voice chould not be--
He's the best man, you know, in the whole wide world,
And he loves--he only love me.

Kiss me, mother, and share the joy
That has on my fortune smiled;
You have shared myu sorrows when e'er I wept,
Since I was a little child
Do you chide me now? what could your darling do,
When he pleads with bended knee?
He's the best man, you know, in the whole wide world,
And he loves--he only loves me.

Leave you, mother, it brings a pang
To this light and bounding heart;
But if he were calling, the bride would go,
Tho' you and the daughter part.
At a word from him, a beckon of his hand,
I would cross the rolling sea--
He's the best man, you know, in the whole wide world,
And he loves--he only loves me.

Round me now, beneath the weeping willow,
Night's refreshing breezes blow;
Anguish drove me from a sleepless pillow
Hours and hours ago.
You, and you alone, may know my sorrow--
You, my confidante of yore--
You, my loved one, when I must, tomorrow
Lose forever more!

Farewell, my loved one!
Yet once more
Let me press you to my heart;
Once, our Fate, with cruel fingers,
Tears our souls apart.

Though you may forget it, I remember--
Yes! for sweet it was to know--
What you told me in that dear December,
Years and years ago.
Whisper once again a truth so cheering,
Would you not those words deny;
And the sound shall linger in my hearing,
Even till I die.

Fondly let the last adieu be spoken,
Since we must our dreams dismiss;
These heart-linklets, since they must be broken
Break them with a kiss.
Then, though bitter tears will still be flowing,
One sweet confort may I claim,
As I walk this world of changes--knowing
You are still the same.

While my treasure I relinquish, let me
Wish you heart-wealth that endures;
Even should you by and by forget me,
Faithful friends be yours.
May you never know a life so lonely,
Or a sky so dark above!
May you never having one love only,
Lose that only love!

In the postoffice window was one broken pane;
In the wainscot there was one loosen'd board;
And conveniently near was the broad oaken table,
Where the mail from the bag had been pour'd,
'Twas a morning in May, with a sweet odor'd breeze;
And it happen'd unnotic'd by all,
That a most precious missive, that love laden letter,
Flutter'd down thro' the gap in the wall.

Two lives wreck'd by a zephyr!
Two hearts crush'd by the fall,
When that most precious missive, that love laden letter,
Flutter'd down thro' the gap in the wall.

Both were faithful and true, 'Twas a gossip's remark,
that had clouded loving hearts with concern.
Then, alas! came a quarrel; and she, in her anger,
Bade him go, nevermore to return.
Oh, how soon she repented! how great was her grief,
And how humbly she penn'd her recall!
But that most precious missive, that love laden letter,
Flutter'd down thro' the gap in the wall.

It was just on the morrow the carpenter came,
Such defections in that wall to repair;
And he hammer'd and sang, and departed unmindful
Of the hearts he had thus burried there.
And in heaps on the table, all safe and secure,
There lay many a valueless scrawl,
Where that most precious missive, that love laden letter,
Flutter'd down thro' the gap in the wall.

"When she learns how she wrongs me, my darling will write!"
Mus'd the lover, as he watch'd for the mail;
But his letter came not, and, dishearten'd and hopeless,
For a land far away he set sail.
Oh! the long weary years of suspense and regret,
And of presage perplexing withal,
Since that most precious missive, that love laden letter,
Flutter'd down thro' the gap in the wall.

From the time-crumbled pile came the time-faded sheet,
With its ancient superscription and date;
And from exile the lover, the yet faithful lover,
Hasten'd home, to seal his fate.
'Twas his most cruel pang that he might not explain
To the sleeper beneath her black pall,
How that most precious missive, that love laden letter
Flutter'd down thro' the gap in the wall.