A Song for Rosalys

Roses lean from their slender stalks—
Oh, but the summer is just begun!
Through her garden Rosalys walks,
And the world is warm with the sun.

Roses and maiden and year
All blooming together;
Heigho, it is good to be here,
In the summer weather!

Love thrives well when the days are long,
And hearts, like the summer, are young and gay.
Words turn to music, and hope grows strong;
But the best is what we can never say.

Oh, once, just once, to be glad once more,
To listen to words that we heard of old,
To steal again through Youth's open door
And thrill to the story that then was told!

But never twice is a woman young,
And never twice to the year comes June,
And Age is the echo of songs once sung,
With never again the time or the tune.

Roses and maiden and year
All blooming together;
Heigho, it is good to be here,
In the summer weather!