A Thousand Words in Sorrow
- I cannot sing the old songs,
- I sung long years ago
- For heart and voice would fail me,
- And foolish tears would flow;
- For bygone hours come o’er my heart,
- with each familiar strain
- I cannot sing the old songs,
- Or dream those dreams again.
- I cannot sing the old songs,
- Their charm is sad and deep;
- Their melodies would waken
- Old sorrows from their sleep;
- And though all unforgotten still,
- and sadly sweet they be,
- I cannot sing the old songs,
- They are too dear to me.
- I cannot sing the old songs,
- For visions come again,
- Of golden dreams departed
- And years of weary pain;
- Perhaps when earthly fetters
- shall have set my spirit free,
- My voice may know the old songs,
- For all eternity.
-Charlotte Alington Barnard
