To Miss Mary M. Dallas
"Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway!"
Song.
Written and Composed
for the Piano Forte
by Stephen Collins Foster, 1826-1864

1.
Ah! may the red rose live alway,
  To smile upon earth and sky!
Why should the beautiful ever weep?
  Why should the beautiful die?
Lending a charm to ev'ry ray
  That falls on her cheeks of light,
Giving the zephyr kiss for kiss,
  And nursing the dewdrop bright --
Ah! may the red rose live alway,
  To smile upon earth and sky!
Why should the beautiful ever weep?
  Why should the beautiful die?

2.
Long may the daisies dance the field,
  Frolicking far and near!
Why should the innocent hide their heads?
  Why should the innocent fear?
Spreading their petals in mute delight
  When morn in its radiance breaks,
Keeping a floral festival
  Till the night-loving primrose wakes --
Long may the daisies dance the field,
  Frolicking far and near!
Why should the innocent hide their heads?
  Why should the innocent fear?

3.
Lulled be the dirge in the cypress bough,
  That tells of departed flowers!
Ah! that the butterfly's gilded wing
  Fluttered in evergreen bowers!
Sad is my heart for the blighted plants --
  Its pleasures are aye as brief --
They bloom at the young year's joyful call,
  And fade with the autumn leaf:
Ah! may the red rose live alway,
  To smile upon earth and sky!
Why should the beautiful ever weep?
  Why should the beautiful die?