To Nikki

On hearing her sing ‘Danny Boy’

O Nikki dear, my heart, my heart is broken:
I have, alas! no hope, no peace, no joy;
‘Tis not, ‘tis not the words that you have spoken,
But that you spoke them, sweet! to Danny boy:

But, oh! how full could be my consolation,
And, oh! how sweet, how sweet could be my joy,
To hear you sing your tender admiration, –
If only I, if only I were Danny boy.

But if you sang those words to me, my dearest,
No gloom could take away my heart’s warm glow:
In deepest gloom, my peace would be the nearest,
For then you’d come, and sing, ‘I love you so.’

And all the stars would see and smile above me,
And all my heaviness would turn to joy,
For you would sing, and tell me that you love me; –
If only I, if only I were Danny boy!

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