"Oh! Ask Not Why My Cheek Is Pale" (1842)
BALLAD.
Written, Composed
and respectfully dedicated to
MRS. OELREICH,
by
F. W. ROSIER.

Boston, MA: HENRY PRENTISS, 33 Court St.,
Plate No. 247
[Source: 101/097@Levy]

1. Oh! ask not why my cheek is pale,
Or why mine eye is dim,
Can the Lover smile, when she he loves;
Smiles bright on all but him?
Can he mark unmov’d the alter’d eye,
The voice constrain’d and cold,
Shall his bosom be denied a sigh,
When he finds his love too bold.

2. ’Tis not unkindly that her eye,
Averted from me turns
’Tis but to quench the fatal flame
That in my bosom burns;
Then ask not why my cheek is pale,
Or dim mine eyes appear;
Grudge not my broken heart one sigh,
Mine eye one bitter tear.