Poetic Gems from English Opera

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J. Walter Stoops, 1877 - Opera - 71 pages
 

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Page 30 - ROCK ME TO SLEEP. Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight, Make me a child again, just for to-night! Mother, come back from the echoless shore, Take me again to your heart, as of yore; Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care, Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair; Over my slumbers your loving watch keep; — Rock me to sleep, mother, —rock me to sleep ! Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!
Page 30 - Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold, Fall on your shoulders again as of old; Let it drop over my forehead to-night, Shading my faint eyes away from the light; For, with its sunny-edged shadows once more, Haply will throng the sweet visions of yore. Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep — Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep.
Page 64 - Darling, I am growing old, Silver threads among the gold. Shine upon my brow today— Life is fading fast away; But, my darling, you will be, will be Always young and fair to me; Yes, my darling, you will be Always young and fair to me. Chorus: Darling, I am growing, growing old. Silver threads among the gold Shine upon my brow today — Life is fading fast away.
Page 26 - When other lips, and other hearts, Their tales of love shall tell, In language whose excess imparts The power they feel so well : There may, perhaps, in such a scene, Some recollection be Of days that have as happy been, And you'll remember me.
Page 30 - Many a summer the grass has grown green, Blossomed and faded, our faces between ; Yet. with strong yearning and passionate pain, Long I tonight for your presence again. Come from the silence so long and so deep — Rock me to sleep...
Page 30 - Over my heart, in the days that are flown, No love like mother-love ever has shone; No other worship abides and endures, — Faithful, unselfish, and patient like yours: None like a mother can charm away pain From the sick soul and the world-weary brain. Slumber's soft calms o'er my heavy lids creep ;Rock me to sleep...
Page 4 - When the white swan southward roves To seek at noon the orange groves, When the red tints of the West Prove the sun has gone to rest...
Page 22 - HAVE just been learning the lesson of life, The sad, sad lesson of loving, And all of its power for pleasure and pain Been slowly, sadly proving; And all that is left of the bright, bright dream, With its thousand brilliant phases, Is a handful of dust in a coffin hid — A coffin under the daisies; The beautiful, beautiful daisies, The snowy, snowy daisies.
Page 64 - Love can never more grow old, Locks may lose their brown and gold, Cheeks may fade and hollow grow, But the hearts that love will know. Never, never, winter's frost and chill, Summer warmth is in them still.
Page 26 - Some recollection be Of days that have as happy been, And you'll remember me. When coldness, or deceit, shall slight The beauty now they prize, And deem it but a faded light Which beams within your eyes ; When hollow hearts shall wear a mask 'Twill break your own to see ; In such a moment I but ask That you'll remember me.

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