O, sweetheart, sweet of the Long Ago,
Maid of the blue, blue eyes;
You went one day like a Spring-time snow
And you left me here, ah, long ago,
To dream of you there in Paradise,
My sweetheart, sweet of the Long Ago.
O, sweetheart, sweet, so long are the years,
Filled with a sad, sad pain;
There's little of laughter, much of tears,
So weak are hopes, so strong are the fears,
So much of loss, so little of gain
In the harvest of all the years!
But through my pain and thro' all my tears
One thing, sweetheart, I know:
When done with all the long, dreary years,
And shed the last of Life's bitter tears,
I shall find you, my sweetheart, I know.
Then shall I forget all the toilful years
And drown in the sea of love my fears,
My sweetheart, sweet of the Long Ago!