[from]
Favorite Songs
for the
Piano Forte,
Composed by
John Rogers Thomas, 1830-1896
Sung by
Buckley's Serenaders & Christy's Minstrels.
"When Thou Wert Night" (1853)
Poetry by Eliza Cook, 1818-1889

London: Charles Sheard, Musical Bouquet Office;
192 High Holborn.
City Wholesale Agentss, E. Wallen, 11. Ave Maria Lane;
& F. Pitman, 20, Paternoster Row.
[Plate No.] No. 1054 [?] Musical Bouquet.
[Source: @NYPL;  date based on plate number]

1. When thou wert nigh, I did not heed 
What voices blam’d— what lot befel, 
For where I found a charmless weed 
There always sprung a flow’r as well. 
The shades of Life might come and go, 
I thought not how— I cared not when— 
The darkest cloud the world could shew 
Was ne’er without its rainbow then, 
Was ne’er without its rainbow then.

2. But not thou’rt gone, the morning star 
Seems dim and dull as evening’s close, 
I see the cypress on my way, 
But cannot find the rich, red rose. 
The cloud now comes with gloom alone, 
The weed now springs with baneful pow’r. 
With secret tears my heart must own 
Thou wert the rainbow and the flow’r, 
Thou wert the rainbow and the flow’r.