To Edna W. Sheppard
"Alas! My Love's Away" (1878)
Song (with Chorus ad lib)
Words by Francis S. Smith
Music by Henry Tucker

1.
I ramble by the brookside,
I linger in the dell,
While all my senses soon benumb'd,
As by some magic spell.
I wander aimlessly about,
From morn till twilight gray,
But meet with naught to comfort me,
Alas! my love's away.
The flow'rs have lost their odor,
The birds have lost their song,
There is no music in the rill
That gailey speeds along;
The hours creep slowly, sadly on,
Through all the livelong day;
And, when night comes,
I cannot rest,
Alas! My love's away.

CHORUS
Ah! my love, sweet my love!
How dark and drear the day!
There's naught in life to comfort me,
Alas! my love's away.

2.
Oh, tyrant Love! so honeysweet!
Thou hast me in thy net;
But give me I implore thee, spells,
The power to forget.
My thoughts are eating out my heart,
And when I strive to pray,
The words fall back upon my soul,
Because my love's away.
The world, so bright and joyous, seems
A wilderness to me,
And when alone, or 'mid the throng,
One face I only see;
My eyes are ever wet with tears;
No task can I essay;
Life is a dreary, weary blank,
Alas! My love's away.

(CHORUS)