"Autumn Winds" (1856)
by George Frederick Root, 1820-1895

[Source: from "The Sabbath Bell", 
Singing School Music, page 90]

1. 
The sad autumn winds! how they wail as they pass
O’er trees, bare and leafless, and the dry, withered grass!
They mourn for the summer departed and gone,
And dread winter, cold and dreary, fast coming on.
Sigh, autumn winds, in your flight wild and free,
Mourn for the friends ever lost, lost to me.

2. 
The songbird has flown from her nest in the vale,
The sweet scented blossoms, that perfume the soft gale,
Have left me in sadness their flight to deplore,
I call, but their gentle voices answer no more.
Sigh, autumn winds, in your flight wild and free,
Mourn for the friends ever lost, lost to me.

3. 
The summer will come in its beauty arrayed,
The song bird will carol in the green forest shade,
But loved ones departed they can not restore,
I call, but their gentle voices answer no more.
Sigh, autumn winds, in your flight wild and free,
Mourn for the friends ever lost, lost to me.