Sarah Brightman - The last rose of summer

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one,
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them;
Thus kindly I scatter
Thy leaves o'er the bed
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.        --        [see remark below]

So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
And from love's shining circle
The gems drop away!
When true hearts lie wither'd,
And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?

origin: Groves of Blarney (Moore's Irish Melodies)

From: The trees they grow so high (1998).

Source of the lyrics: the CD booklet.

A remark about the last line of the second stanza. In the booklet has "Lie senseless and dead", and at first I thought this must be wrong, as "senseless" does not make much sense when the stanza is read in terms the roses, and so I thought it had to be "Lie scentless ...". But as Ed Wilson pointed out, the author is talking about friends and relatives long dead and the roses are simply metaphoric, in which case "senseless" makes perfect sense. (It is difficult to hear what Sarah actually sings, but it is seems to be "senseless".)

 
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last modified: 27 November 2005