When I should be her lover
forever and a day,
And she my faithful sweetheart
till the golden hair was gray;
And we should be so happy
that when either's lips were dumb
They would not smile in Heaven
till the other's kiss had come.
But, ah! my dream is broken
by a step upon the stair,
And the door is softly opened,
and—my wife is standing there:
Yet with eagerness and rapture
all my visions I resign,—
To greet the living presence
of that old sweetheart of mine.
