Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms

by Thomas Moore

Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms was published in 1808 in Moore's collection, Irish Melodies. Moore composed and sang this to his wife, Elizabeth, outside her bedroom window to restore her confidence, and assure her of his unwavering love, in spite of the effects of small pox on her beautiful face. What a poet!

An illustration for the story Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms by the author Thomas Moore — Adolph von Menzel, View from a Window in the Marienstrasse, 1865

I.

BELIEVE me, if all those endearing young charms,
Which I gaze on so fondly to-day,
Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms,
Like fairy-gifts, fading away!
Thou wouldst still be ador'd as this moment thou art,
Let thy loveliness fade as it will;
And, around the dear ruin, each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still!

II.

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,
And thy cheeks unprofan'd by a tear,
That the fervour and faith of a soul can be known,
To which time will but make thee more dear!
Oh! the heart, that has truly lov'd, never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close;
As the sun-flower turns on her god, when he sets,
The same look which she turn'd when he rose!

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