Heart Bowed Down

The heart bowed down

Count Arnheim's aria from The Bohemian Girl by Michael William Balfe, libretto by Alfred Bunn

Whate'er the scenes the present hour

calls forth before the sight,

They lose their splendor when compared

with scenes of past delight!

The heart bowed down by weight of woe,

To weakest hope will cling,

To thought and impulse while they flow,

That can no comfort bring,

With those exciting scenes will blend,

O'er pleasure's pathway thrown;

But mem'ry is the only friend

That grief can call its own.

The mind will, in its worst despair,

Still ponder o'er the past,

On moments of delight that were

Too beautiful to last.

To long departed years extend

Its visions with them flown;

For mem'ry is the only friend

That grief can call its own.