"The Rosebush" (Under a Rosebush) (1876)
Song and Chorus
Words by W. W. Caldwell
Music by Joseph Philbrick Webster, 1819-1875

1.
A child sleeps under a Rosebush fair,
The buds swell out in the soft May air;
Sweetly it rests, and on dream-wings flies
To play with the angels in Paradise.

CHORUS
Sweetly it rests, and on dream-wings flies
To play with the angels in Paradise.

2.
A maiden stands by the Rosebush fair,
The dewy blossoms perfume the air,
She presses her hand to her throbbing breast,
With love's first wonderful rapture blest.

CHORUS
She presses her hand to her throbbing breast,
With love's first wonderful rapture blest.

3.
A Mother kneels by the Rosebush fair,
Soft sigh the leaves in the evening air,
Sorrowing thoughts of the past arise,
And tears of anquish bedim her eyes.

CHORUS
Sorrowing thoughts of the past arise,
And tears of anquish bedim her eyes.


4.
Naked and alone stands the Rosebush,
Whirl'd are the leaves in the autumn air,
Wither'd and dead and dead they fall to the ground,
And silently cover a new made mound.

CHORUS
Wither'd and dead and dead they fall to the ground,
And silently cover a new made mound.