Dreaming of love and fame, sweetheart,
I dreamed that a sunbeam shone
For a wavering instant, and where it played
A hundred flowers had grown.
The sunshine flitting so soon away
Was a smile thou hadst given me;
And the flowers that bloomed in the world for aye,
Were the songs I wrote for thee.
Waking to love and life, sweetheart,
I saw fair flowers fade;
While still from the measureless heavens above
The flickering sunshine played.
The flowers fading from all men’s sight
Were the songs they had heard from me;
And the light that illumined the world to them,
Was a single smile from thee!