"Oh! Pity the Heart That Has Suffered" (1853)
Ballad
Sung by the Composer.
Words by A. Wolcott.
Music by John Rogers Thomas, 1830-1896

New York: William Hall & Son, 543 Broadway
Plate No. 4685
Engrav'd at Clayton's.
[Source: @NYPL]

1. Oh, pity the heart that has suffer’d, 
What none but the tender can feel; 
The balm of affection bestowing 
Where only affection can heal. 
Despairing, long have I wander’d, 
A pilgrim on life’s weary way, 
The hopes that I cherish’d all blighted— 
How hapless and dreary each day! 

[REFRAIN sung after each verse]
Oh, pity the heart that has suffer’d, 
What none but the tender can feel; 
The balm of affection bestewing, 
Where only affection can heal.

2. A future I fondly had pictur’d, 
Whose brightness a radiance shed; 
Rich hues o’er my pathway diffusing, 
But, alas! the fair vision has fled! 
For in gloom and in sadness I’ve linger’d, 
Thro’ many a day and long year, 
And sigh’d, as oft I remember’d 
How illusive the hopes once so dear.