"Oh take this flow'r, dear love," said he,
He spake with a fearful sigh.
That night he was going across the sea,
And this was his last good-bye.
She took the gift with a mocking smile,
In the flush of her maiden pride,
With heartless guile she dallied awhile,
Then threw the flow'r aside.

Oh, love for a year, a week, a day,
But alas for the love that loves alway.

Give me a flow'r, dear love, said he,
She threw the flow'r he craved,
Now by the love that I have for thee,
My breaking heart is saved.
He kiss'd it once with a tender sigh,
And treasured it near his heart,
Tho' years roll by, this flow'r and I
Shall never, never part.

Oh, love for a year, a week, a day,
But alas for the love that loves alway.

They met again in the after years,
In life's sad sorrowful time;
Their heads were heavy with age and tears,
And white with the winter rime.
He found the flow'r she scorn'd in play,
At her faithful heart did dwell;
His flow'r, they say, He had cast away
Before its petals fell.

Oh, love for a year, a week, a day,
But alas for the love that loves alway.