 | Ballads of Irish chivalry |  |
I BUILT ME A BOWER.
I
I built me a bower in life's greenwood,A palace of blooms for my soul,
And there on the maids all unseen would
I dream 'neath love's blissful control,
Till I set up the image of Alice
Supreme on my heart's burning throne;
Then long in my flow'r-woven palace
I bowed to that image alone.
231
II
Oh! fair was my bird of the mountains,Oh! sweet as the thorn's scented spray,
Oh! pure as the light of the fountains
That dance down the green hills in May.
A chapter of joy-woven story,
A voyage o'er a bright fairy sea,
A May-tide of bloom and of glory
Were the days of our love-time to me.
III
But the chapter oft ends all in sorrow,The voyage hath its tempests and gloom,
And the May-tide, though bright be each morrow,
Must pass, like our lives, to the tomb;—
Oh! the dreams of my love-time are humbled,
The blooms from my green bow'r are fled,
My idol lies shattered and crumbled,
My Alice, my sweet flow'r, is dead!
| Ballads of Irish chivalry | |