Historic Sheet Music Collection

Authors

J. Waters

Document Type

Score

Publication Date

1856

Comments

To absent friends.
Can the absent be forgotten?
song by J. Waters.
Boston: published by Oliver Ditson & Co. 277 Washington St.

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Lyrics

Can the absent be forgotten?
Can their mem'ries ever die?
Were they loved to be remembered,
Like a shadow on the sky?
Can the early ties that bound us
Like morning dreams depart
Forbid it heaven for then would cease,
All truthfulness of heart.

Can the absent be forgotten?
Though their silence we regret?
No Le the springs on this fair earth
By which we can regret?
There is something in the mem'ry
Of those we've loved and lost
Upholds love's bark o'er time's vast sea,
However tempest tost.

Can the absent be forgotten?
Can the lip that we have kissed,
The hand that we have pressed in ours be lost and be missed?
Can the heart that throbb'd to our heart's throb,
The cheek that sought our breast
As the swallow wearied from afar,
Seeks its own chosen nest.

Can all these be forgotten,
As a footprint on the sand?
The dew upon the hawthorn leaf
We brush off with our hand?
Oh! no, there is a faith in love,
Whose impulses are pure,
That like th' eternal mountains
God created to endure.

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The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author.