Leaf by Leaf the Roses Fall

DESCRIPTION: "Leaf by leaf the roses fall, Drop by drop the spring runs dry, One by one beyond recall, Summer beauties fade and die." But the roses will bloom again, and summer will return. Hope lies "Hidden far from careless eyes In the garden of the heart."
AUTHOR: Words: Probablu Caroline Dana Howe (1824-1907) / Music: see NOTES
EARLIEST DATE: 1856 (poem published in Gleason's Pictorial, according to Wikipedia)
KEYWORDS: nonballad flowers death | hope summer
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Oh-How-Is-That-For-High-Songster, p. 23, "Leaf by Leaf the Roses Fall" (1 text)
Roud #15355
NOTES [112 words]: It appears this was set to music at least twice, based on different sheet music versions. In 1865, a tune was published by T. Brigham Bishop; this was published by Oliver Ditson & Co. and others -- and never lists an author of the words. In 1911, Will Rossiter published a version with words attributed to Beth Slater Whitson and music by W. R. Williams. (To be fair, this does appear to have been rewritten.) Hymnary.org lists the words as by "C. E. Howe" (presumably an error for C. D. Howe) but lists it as sung to the tune "Benevento," written by Samuel Webbe in 1792.
The Wikipedia article on Caroline Dana Howe includes a description of how this came to be written. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.1
File: HTFH023

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