No. 2 [of 3] from "Beautiful Ballads
Composed by J. P. Webster"
"Broken Ties" (1857)
Words by Montgomery
Music by Joseph Philbrick Webster, 1819-1875

Chicago, IL: Higgins Brothers, 66 Randolph Street
Iconographer: H. Leeson
Music Engraver: Pearson
[Source: am1228@Mills]


1. 
The broken ties of happier days 
  How often do they seem, 
To come before the mental gaze 
  Like a remember’d dream. 
Around us each disevered chain 
  In sparkling ruin lies, 
And earthly hands can ne’er again 
  Unite those broken ties.

2. 
The parent of our infant home,
  The kindred that we love,
Far from our arms perchance may roam,
  To distant scenes removed;
Or have we watched their parting breath,
  Or closed their weary eyes,
And sighed, to think how sadly death,
  Can sever human ties.

3. 
The friends, the loved ones of our youth,
  They too are gone, or changed;
Or worse than all, their love and truth
  Are darkened and estranged:
They meet us in a glittering throng,
  With cold averted eyes,
And wonder that we weep our wrong
  And mourn those _broken ties_.

4. 
Oh! who, in such a world as this
  Could bear their lot of pain,
Did not one radient hope of bliss,
  Unclouded yet remain;
That hope, the sovereign Lord has given,
  Who reigns beyond the skies,
That hope, still points our souls to heaven,
  Beyond those _broken ties_.