HOW MANY HOPES LIE BURIED HERE
How many hopes lie buried here
With our darling, we loved so dear!
When his dear life ended,
The shadows blended
With the darkness so cold and drear.
And the sad refrain,
Again and again,
Tells of a mother’s tears and pain,
Year after year, year after year.
How many hopes? Ah, God alone
Knows how many lie under this stone!
Of the mind well directed,
Of the man they expected—
Death ended all, the spirit has flown.
And that sad refrain,
Again and again,
Tells of a father’s great heart pain,
Always yearning for the boy that is gone.
How many hopes? The breezes sigh,
Softly whispering while passing by:
Fondest hopes of a mother’s breast,
Hopes that pleased the father best,
Reaching from earth to the sun-lit sky.
Now the sad refrain,
Again and again,
Tells of the father’s and mother’s pain—
A great heartache that will never die.
Ask the mother how many tears
To wash that memory from the years?
Ask the gloomy father why
Comes that half-unconscious sigh?
As the sound of a lov’d voice disappears.
Ah, that sad refrain,
Again and again.
Tells the story of grief and pain,
Which the mellow-hearted reader hears.