Lise

If i were a cloud in heaven,   I would hang over thee; If I were a star of even,   I ’d rise and set for thee; For love, life, light, were given   Thy ministers to be. If I were a wind’s low laughter,   I ’d kiss thy hair; Or a sunbeam coming after,   Lie on thy forehead fair; For the world and its wide hereafter   Have nought with thee to compare. If I were a fountain leaping,   Thy name should be The burden of my sweet weeping;   If I were a bee, My honeyed treasures keeping,   ’T were all for thee! There ’s never a tided ocean   Without a shore; Nor a leaf whose downward motion   No dews deplore; And I dream that my devotion   May move thee to sigh once more.