Digital Tradition Mirror

The Old Songs (2)

The Old Songs (2)
(Samuel Minturn Peck)

I want to hear the old songs, the songs I used to hear,
When every day brought happiness, and Fancy flouted fear;
When sunset's glory ever new, foretold a morn more bright -
I want to hear the old songs. Oh! Sing me one tonight.

I want to hear the old songs, no trilling, no roulade,
Where music dons her lace and gems and trips in masquerade,
But give to me the simple strain that seeks the heart outright,
And nests within its deepest part. Ah! Sing me one tonight.

I want to hear the old songs, their names I need not tell;
The quaint old names mean naught to you, but I can feel their spell.
Each one, a key, can open to me the garden of delight
That blossomed in my vanished youth. Oh! Sing me one tonight.

I want to hear the old songs - I never hear them now -
The tunes that cheer the tired heart and smooth the care-worn brow.
Heard in the twilight's dreamy hour, best suited to their flight,
Each cadence like a blessing falls. Ah! Sing me one tonight.

I want to hear the old songs, the gentle lullabies
That reft me of my weariness, and closed my childish eyes;
The fabled music of the spheres beside those strains would blight.
The dear old songs my mother sang. Oh! Sing me one tonight.

From the book "Home Songs," Oliver-Ditson Co., 1906
XX

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