I Saw Thy Form in Youthful Prime, Lyric Variant 02

This item is part of the I. G. Greer Folksong Collection which consists of more than 300 individual song titles and their variants as collected by Isaac Garfield Greer (1881-1967) from informants, primarily in Ashe, Wilkes and Watauga counties. The collection includes manuscripts, typescript transcriptions produced by Dr. Greer’s clerical staff, and handwritten musical notations. Songs range from traditional Child Ballads, traditional English and Scottish ballads as well as their American variants, to 19th century popular music to musical compositions of local origin.

Irish poetry

Memories--Songs and music

Death--Songs and music

Aging--Songs and music

Youthful Prime

Moore, Thomas, 1779-1852

AC.113 Isaac Garfield (I.G.) Greer Papers and Recordings

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

Greer, I. G. (Isaac Garfield), 1881-1967

PDF

English

Text

I saw thy form in youthful prime,
No thought that pale decay,
Could steal before the steps of time,
And wash its bloom away.
Yet still thy features wore that light.
Which fleets not with the breath,
And life never looked more farely bright,
Than in thy smiles of death.

As streams that run over golden mines,
With modest mur mur glide.
Nor seem to know the wealth that shines,
With in there gentle tide.
So fall beneath a simple guise,
Thy radiant genious shone,
And that which charmed all other eyes,
Seemed worthless in thy own.

If souls could always dwell above,
Thou never hadest left thy sphere,
Or could we keep the souls we love,
We never had lost thee here.
Though many a gilted mind we meet,
Though fairest forms we see.
To live with them is farless sweet,
Than to remember thee.

1820

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