Eleven songs for voice and piano , opus 26

Sleep, baby, sleep!
Thy father's watching the sheep,
Thy mother's shaking the dreamland tree,
And down drops a little dream for thee.
Sleep, baby, sleep.

Sleep, baby, sleep!
The large stars are the sheep,
The little stars are lambs, I guess,
The bright moon is the shepherdess.
Sleep, baby, sleep!

Sleep, baby, sleep!
The Saviour loves his sheep;
He is the Lamb of God on high,
Who for our sakes came down to die.
Sleep, baby, sleep!

Sleep, baby, sleep!
Away, to tend the sheep,
Away, thou sheepdog, fierce and wild,
And do not harm my sleeping child!
Sleep, baby, sleep! Sleep!

Love me if I live!
   Love me if I die!
What to me is life or death,
   So that thou be nigh?
Once I loved thee rich,
   Now I love thee poor;
Ah! what is there I could not
   For thy sake endure?
Kiss me for my love!
   Pay me for my pain!
Come! and murmur in my ear
   How thou lov'st again!

The night has a thousand eyes,
 And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
 With the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,
 And the heart but one;
Yet the light of a whole life dies
 When love is done.

Fair Eve knelt close to the guarded gate in the hush of an Eastern spring, 
She saw the flash of the Angel's sword, the gleam of the Angel's wing. 
And because she was so beautiful, and because she could not see 
How fair were the pure white cyclamens crushed dying at her knee 
He plucked a Rose from the Eden Tree where the four great rivers met,
And sheltered her bosom's thorny pain, 'neath its petals dewy wet.
And though for many a Cycle past that Rose in the dust hath lain 
With her who bore it upon her breast when she passed from grief and pain, 
There was never a daughter of Eve but once, ere the tale of her years be done, 
Shall know the scent of the Eden Rose but once beneath the sun ! 
Though the years may bring her joy or pain, fame, sorrow or sacrifice, 
The hour that brought her the scent of the Rose, she lived it in Paradise.

  Ah! my heart is weary waiting,
    Waiting for the May --
Waiting for the pleasant rambles,
Where the fragrant hawthorn brambles,
  With the woodbine alternating,
    Scent the dewy way.
  Ah! my heart is weary waiting,
    Waiting for the May.

 ... 

  Waiting sad, dejected, weary,
    Waiting for the May.
Spring goes by with wasted warnings,
Moonlit evenings, sunbright mornings;
  Summer comes, yet dark and dreary
    Life still ebbs away;
  Man is ever weary weary,
    Waiting for the May!

  Ah! my heart is sore with sighing,
    Sighing for the May --
Sighing for their sure returning,
When the summer beams are burning,
  Hopes and flowers that dead or dying
    All the winter lay.
  Ah! my heart is sore with sighing,
    Sighing for the May.

 ... 

Fair pledges of a fruitful tree,
  Why do ye fall so fast?
  Your date is not so past
But you may stay here yet awhile
  To blush and gently smile,
      And go at last.

What! were ye born to be
  An hour or half's delight,
  And so to bid good night?
'Twas pity Nature brought ye forth
  Merely to show your worth
      And lose you quite.

But you are lovely leaves, where we
  May read how soon things have
  Their end, though ne'er so brave:
And after they have shown their pride
  Like you awhile, they glide
      Into the grave.

I arise from dreams of thee
In the first sweet sleep of night,
When the winds are breathing low,
And the stars are shining bright:
I arise from dreams of thee,
And a spirit in my feet
Has led me - who knows how?
To thy chamber window, Sweet!

The wandering airs they faint
On the dark, the silent stream -
The Champak odours fail
Like sweet thoughts in a dream;
The nightingale's complaint,
It dies upon her heart; -
As I must die on thine,
O belovèd as thou art!

Oh lift me from the grass!
I die! I faint! I fail!
Let thy love in kisses rain
On my lips and eyelids pale.
My cheek is cold and white, alas!
My heart beats loud and fast; -
Oh! press it to thine own again,
Where it will break at last.

My true Love hath my heart and I have his.
By just exchange, one to the other given:
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss;
There never was a better bargain driven:
My true Love hath my heart and I have his.
His heart in me keeps him and me in one;
My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides:
He loves my heart, for once it was his own;
I cherish his because in me it bides:
My true Love hath my heart and I have his.
 ... 

A maiden sits in her bower and sings, 
And your heart keeps time to the tune ; 
In the garden walks the red rose springs, 
The month is June. 

The month is June, and full are the days, 
Fair days, of the summer fed ; 
And softly the singer sings her lays : 
Her lips are red. 

A face she has that is pale as Sleep, 
And hair like the midnight skies 
When the wings of tempest across them sweep, 
And strange dark eyes. 

The song she sings is a siren's song, 
A tempting, dangerous rune, 
If you hark at all you will hear too long 
That fatal tune. 

A silent water-lily 
From the dark lake doth rise ; 
Her tender snow-white blossom 
On the still water lies. 

The moon, from highest heaven, 
Pours down its golden light ; 
And all its rays are gathered 
Into that blossom bright. 

Around that snow-white flower 
A singing swan doth float ; 
It is his dying hour, 
It is his dying note. 

He pours his soul in music, 
His heart must break, ere long; 
O flower, -- snow-white flower ! 
Wilt thou not hear the song ?

If on my grave the summer grass were growing,
Or heedless winter winds across it blowing,
Through joyous June or desolate December,
How long, Sweetheart, how long would you remember,
How long, dear love,  ... ?

For brightest eyes would open to the summer,
And sweetest smiles would greet the sweet newcomer,
And on young lips grow kisses for the taking
When all the summer buds to bloom are breaking,--
How long, dear love, how long, dear Love?

 ... 

Too gay, in June, you might be to regret me,
And living lips might woo you to forget me;
But, ah, Sweetheart, I think you would remember
When winds were weary in your life's December, --
So long, dear love, so long, dear Love will you remember,
So long, dear Love!!