"THAT HAVE BLOOMED IN THE SUMMER.
OF MY HEART..."
**************************************
Stephen Foster was perhaps the greatest "summertime"
poet of all. He liked to think of nature, with bright summer
mornings and dew on the grass and flowers...
A good number of his one hundred-fifty songs have
maidens' names as titles, and are often about young love,
springtime and summer, sunshine, warbling birds, roses,
fields of wildflowers, running brooks, and the maidens
tripping around---almost floating on the "soft summer air."
Through many of his writings ran a wistful, nostalgic
thread of lost love and sadness, almost as if he anticipated
leaving life early (as in fact he did), but ever still, "summer"
persisted, as a bright hope in his life.
Sit with me while we read...and enjoy....Stephen Foster's
melodies of "summer," written in the springtime of his
life...and also of the young life of the new republic.
I predict that you will evermore have Foster's beautiful
visions of summer...etched on your heart....
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"I DREAM OF JEANIE WITH THE LIGHT BROWN HAIR"
"I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,
Born like a vapor on the summer air;
I see her tripping where the wild flowers play,
Happy as the daisies that dance on their way.
Many were the wild notes her merry voice would pour;
Many were the blithe birds that warbled them o'er;
I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,
Floating like a vapor on the soft summer air."
-------------------------------------
"MOLLY, DO YOU LOVE ME?"
"Though the tender blossoms
Need the summer light---
Molly, do you love me,
Love, as I love you?"
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"I WOULD NOT DIE IN SUMMER"
"I would not die in summer
When music's on the breeze,
And soft, delicious murmurs
Float ever through the trees,
And fairy birds are singing
From morn 'til close of day..."
------------------------------------
"MELINDA MAY"
"Laugh in the sunshine
Weep in the rain,
And walk where the
Lilies bloom, down in the meadow
And over the lane,
O come, my Melinda, love,
Come."
-----------------------------------
"EULALIE"
"Bluebirds, linger here awhile.
O'er this sacred, grassy pile,
Sing your sweetest songs to me."
------------------------------------
"THE HOUR FOR THEE AND ME"
"When day breaks forth on the dewy dawn.
And all seems mirth and glee;
When birds their sweetest songs awake,
Is the hour for you and me....
The hour for you and me."
--------------------------------------
"FOR THEE, LOVE, FOR THEE"
"The lark and the linnet seem singing,
For thee love, for thee love,
The bud with blossom seems springing...
The bloom in the meadows,
The rippling of dreams
Recall but thy fair form
The queen of my dreams."
---------------------------------------
"FAIRY BELLE"
"She sings to the meadows
And she carols to the streams,
Her soft notes of melody
Around me sweetly fall,
Her eye full of love is now
Beaming on my soul;
The sound of that gentle voice,
The glance of that eye
Surround me with rapture
That no other heart could sigh."
-------------------------------------
"MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME"
"The sun shines bright in my
Old Kentucky home.
'Tis summer, the darkies are gay,
The corn top's ripe and
The meadow's in the bloom
While the birds make music
All the day..."
------------------------------------
"OUR BRIGHT SUMMER DAYS ARE GONE"
"I remember the days of our youth and love
When we sat 'neath the green oak tree,
When the smiles were as bright as the skies above,
And thy voice made music unto me.
Nevermore will come those happy, happy hours,
Whiled away in life's young dawn;
Nevermore will we roam through
pleasure's sunny bowers...
For our bright, bright summer days are gone."
--------------------------------------
"THOU WILT COME NO MORE, GENTLE ANNIE"
"Thou wilt come no more, gentle Annie,
Like a flow'r thy spirit did depart...
Thou art gone, alas, like the many
Who have bloomed in the summer
Of my heart.
Shall we nevermore behold thee,
Never hear thy laughing voice again?
When the springtime comes,
Gentle Annie...
And the wild flowers are scattered
o'er the plain."
-----------------------------------
"NONE SHALL WEEP A TEAR FOR ME"
"My life is like the summer rose
That opens to the morning sky;
But ere the shadows of evening close,
Is scattered on the ground to die."
------------------------------------
"POOR DROOPING MAIDEN"
"Poor drooping maiden,
Sighing on a bright summer day,
Why are thy frail hands toiling the hours away?
The flowers are out upon the lea
And balmy winds are on the sea;
Come, let the heart warm...
In the sun's kind rays!"
-------------------------------------
"THOU ART THE QUEEN OF MY SONG"
"The wind o'er the lone meadow
Waits for thee...
The birds sing thy beauty
All day long..."
------------------------------------
"STAY SUMMER BREATH"
"Summer breath, summer breath,
Woo not the rose,
There lie the dew-drops in
Blissful repose...
Nestling together...
Wouldn't waft them asunder,
Stay, summer breath."
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"MARY LOVES THE FLOWERS"
"Mary loves the flowers
Ah! How happy they!
E'en their darkest hours, to me
Were bright, bright summer day!"
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"I DREAM OF JEANIE WITH THE LIGHT
BROWN HAIR" (Stanza two)
"Oh, I long for Jeanie and my heart burns low,
Nevermore to find her where bright waters flow;
Now the nodding wildflowers they wilted on the shore
While her gentle fingers will cull them not more;
Oh, I sigh for Jeanie, with the light brown hair,
Floating like a vapor,
On the soft summer air."
----------------------------------------
"Gentle Annie"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0ttY5dUVF0&feature=youtube_gdata_player
BY MIL
8/27/13
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