"Oh, Do Not Chide Me When I Weep" (not dated)
Words and Music by John Hill Hewitt, 1801-1890
[Source: manuscript photocopy curtesy of
John H. Hewitt papers #31 (OP3 8)
Special Collections,
The Robert W. Woodruff Library,
Emory University,
Atlanta, GA  30322-2870]


1. 
Oh, do not chide me when I weep, 
These tears bring me relief; 
The smile of joy let others keep, 
mine be the joy of grief. 
The sunbeam gilds the drooping flower; 
And gives it life anew; 
But brighter shine its tints each hour, 
When bathed in evening dew.

2. 
I can not tarry with the gay, 
Their songs are dull to me; 
The lights that round mirth’s chaplet play, 
To me, burn gloomily. 
The past, the past­­ the shadowy past­­ 
The scenes of perish’d years, 
Loom up­­ joy’s shy is overcast, 
And smiles give place to tears.

3. 
Then, do not chide me if I weep, 
The joys of life are fled; 
I can not wake the lov’d ones that sleep, 
In silence with the dead, 
But, be thy heart forever light, 
Let joy illume thine eyes;  
Mine be the silent gloom of night, 
A life of tears and sighs.