Lorena
This sentimental soldier song is about the girl the soldier left behind. Lorena became a very popular name for Southern babies.
by Reverend H.D.L. Webster
The years creep slowly by, Lorena,
The snow is on the grass again;
The sun's low down the sky, Lorena,
The frost gleams where the flowers have been;
But the heart throbs on as warmly now,
As when the summer days were nigh;
Oh! the sun can never dip so low,
Adown affection's cloudless sky.
A hundred months have passed, Lorena,
Since last I held thy hand in mine;
And felt the pulse beat fast, Lorena-
Though mine beat faster far than thine;
A hundred months - 'twas flowery May,
When up the hilly slope we climbed,
To watch the dying of the day,
And hear the distant church bells chime.
We loved each other then, Lorena.
More than we ever dared to tell;
And what we might have been, Lorena,
Had but our lovings prospered well-
But then - 'tis past; the years are gone,
I'll not call up their shadowy forms;
I'll say to them, "lost years, sleep on!
Sleep on! Nor heed life's pelting storms."
The story of that past, Lorena,
Alas! I care not to repeat;
They touched some tender chords, Lorena,
They lived, but only lived to cheat.
I would not cause e'en one regret
To rankle in your bosom now-
"For if we try we may forget,"
Were words of thine long years ago.
Yes, those were words of thine, Lorena-
They are within my memory yet-
They touched some tender chords, Lorena,
Which thrill and tremble with regret.
'Twas not the woman's heart which spoke-
Thy heart was always true to me;
A duty stern and piercing broke
The tie that linked my soul to thee.
It matters little now, Lorena,
The past is in the eternal past;
Our hearts will soon lie low, Lorena,
Life's tide is ebbing out so fast.
There is a future, oh, thank God!
Of life this is so small a part-
'Tis dust to dust beneath the sod,
But there, up there, 'tis heart to heart.