"The Bird and Mate" (10 May 1873)
(Vocal Duett.)
Words by Alice Hawthorne
[pseud. of Septimus Winner]
Music by Septimus Winner, 1827-1902
from "Pretty Ditties:
for the Piano Forte or Reed Organ"

[Source: 05230@LoC;
Philadelphia: Sep. Winner & Son,
Plate No. 5.11.73-5.]

1.
The sun was low in the valley,
The shades of night were falling;
I stray'd along o'er the lowlands,
And I heard a sweet bird calling.
I walk'd alone in the shadows
That cast their gloom around me;
The Nightingale sang sweetly,
And his song with a rapture bound me.

REFRAIN 2 times
The nightingale was calling,
The nightingale was calling,
Unto its mate was calling
The nightingale was calling
Unto its mate was calling
The nightingale was calling to his mate.

2.
I wandered far o'er the meadow,
Alone and idly dreaming;
I fondly gazed on the hill tops,
With the hues of sunset teeming.
I love to roam in the twilight,
When night her gloom is bringing,
But naught can charm me ever;
Like the voice of that lone bird singing.

(REFRAIN 2 times)

3.
I made my path thro' the woodlands,
'Mid fern, and brush, and holly;
I listened long to its music,
With a thrill of melancholy;
The sweet low song and its echo,
Was lost at last forever;
But its strain in mem'ry lingers,
To be forgotten never!

(REFRAIN 2 times)