"I Live for Thee" [not dated; never published]
Words and Music by John Hill Hewitt, 1801-1890

[Source: manuscript photocopy from
Emory University, Special Collections
The Robert W. Woodruff Library
Atlanta, GA 30322-2870]

1.
Not from thy lips came forth the sigh 
That bears sweet music to the ear; 
It beam'd not from thy soul-lit eye, 
A flower spoke the words so dear, 
"I live for thee" beam'd from its hue, 
On wings of fragrance came the spell; 
It glitter'd in the dip of dew 
That slept within the flow'-ret's cell.

REFRAIN [sung after each verse]
I live for thee, 
I live for thee, 
Thee, on-ly thee!

2. I live for-- thee­­ thou beauteous one, 
Though joy and sorrow still the same; 
My hope­­ the form I gaze upon; 
My guiding star­­ thy cherish'd name. 
And while upon my couch I sleep, 
The treasured gift I seem to see; 
My lips shall breathe with ardor deep­­ 
"I live for thee!­­ I live for thee."