Dear love, where the red lilies blossomed and grew,
       The white snows are falling;
And all through the woods where I wandered with you,
       The loud winds are calling;
And the robin that piped to us tune upon tune,
       Neath the elm--you remember,
Over tree-top and mountain has followed the June,
       And left us -- December.

He left, like a friend that is true in the sun,
       And false in the shadows.
He has found new delights, in the land where he's gone,
       Greener woodlands and meadows.
What care we? let him go! let the snow shroud the lea,
       Let it drift on the heather!
We can sing through it all; I have you--you have me,
       And we'll laugh at the weather.

The old year may die, and a new one be born
       That is bleaker and colder;
But it cannot dismay us; we dare it -- we scorn,
       For love makes us bolder.
Ah Robin! sing loud on the far-distant lea,
       Thou friend in fair weather;
But here is a song sung, that's fuller of glee,
       By two warm hearts together.

1870