Which had been better never heard.

Thou, and thy love, were of that time

When life was but a passion—rhyme;

When I knew not that care might come

Even to that sweet mountain home;

When stars and streams and flowers were part

Of this, then calmly beating heart.

So, when the martyr's cross was mine,

I chose another love than thine;

Our hearts, but not our souls, were mates,