Dreaming as the sunset kissed the sky By the lake I heard a lady cry On my question "Alas" she wept aloud With each sunset a little of my youth will fly
Oh gentle lady by the lake Why weep you here for beauty's sake A lost youth your eyes in the pool can see From Time's gaze a shelter of dreaming make.
For even as the koyal in the trees shall sing And blossoming flowers herald the spring The ale from our barrel will drip away, my love Fill now your cup- some cheer to bring.
Come, come my love, leave behind Your whims and fancies, your troubled mind That youth and beauty that a mockery make Of life-their crippling chains unbind
In dreams did my mind reveal Life's truths-and in mute appeal Beseech me-let youth and beauty by Her laughter did all that knowledge steal
It didn't begin-it could not end Just endless hours somehow to spend -E'en as mornings turned to night- Telling tales a haunted soul to mend.
Once, just once, upon a Dawn By my window, a bird forlorn Sat singing wisdom's song to me I rose and grasped-and the bird was gone.
So I clung on to what I knew Must surely die-just like the dew With morn-Time's callous winds destroyed My laughter as over my life they blew.
Yet, still, I seek those moonlit pools And worlds where bold Folly rules Seeking paths some more to stray My skies ablaze in radiant hues.