Pleasures enter the years as sweet caresses
In a violin’s melodious strings
Had we but time enough to profess this
Oh, how our hearts
Would ever sing

I ask my aching heart to raise mine eyes
To see these pleasures here
To cease this weeping and my sighs
And to always hold
Them dear

I find my thoughts so often turned away
To sorrow instead of pleasure
When I forget the lovely sound that’s made
By each bar those strings will play
Trying to keep my life’s time
In perfect measure

Those pleasures can be held within your heart
With variations in their tune
Sweet caresses from you will never part
If those strings which grace
Your instrument
You remember to attune