Lorena The Irish Rovers

Oh, the years creep slowly by, Lorena
The snow is on the ground again
The sun's low down the sky, Lorena
The frost gleams where the flow'rs have been
But the heart beats on as warmly now
As when the summer days were nigh
Oh, the sun can never dip so low
A-down affection's cloudless sky

A hundred months have passed, Lorena
Since last I held that hand in mine
And felt the pulse beat fast, Lorena
Though mine beat faster far than thine
A hundred months, 'twas flowery May
When up the hilly slope we climbed
To watch the dying of the day
And hear the distant church bells chime

We loved each other then, Lorena
Far more than we ever dared to tell;
And what we might have been, Lorena
Had but our loving prospered well --
But then, 'tis past, the years are gone
I'll not call up their shadowy forms;
I'll say to them, "Lost years, sleep on!
Sleep on! nor heed life's pelting storms."