To my esteemed and valued friend
Clifton Loveridge,
Brooklyn, N.Y.
"Why Fall These Tears?" (1877)
Song with Chorus or refrain (ad lib)
Words by William W. Skaats
Music by Henry Tucker

1.
Why fall these tears, these useless tears?
Why throbs my longing breast?
Waked by the phantoms of lost years,
From peace to wild unrest.
Can I from out the withered past,
Naught but regret to recall?
Most hope, and love, and life, at last--
In one sad ruin fall,
Most hope, and love, and life, at last--
In one sad ruin fall.

CHORUS
O! eyes--forget thy tears--
Sad hearts thy sorrow cease.
A few more weary, weary years,
And then! eternal peace.

2.
The shadows of the coming sight
Rise higher on the wall,
And seem to drown the struggling light
While mystic voices call,
The lost ones of the bygone hours,
And bid them sweetly show,
That 'mid sharp thorns bloom'd sweetest flowers
In days of long ago.
That 'mid sharp thorns bloom'd sweetest flowers
In days of long ago.

(CHORUS)

3.
The visions sweet of her, whose heart
Responsive beat to mine,
In the dead years, bid grief depart,
And chide that I repine.
Then hope, oh! heart, for soon the sight,
Will come, and with it rest,
And then, the morn with glowing light
That wakes the spirit blest.
And then, the morn with glowing light
That wakes the spirit blest.

(CHORUS)