Transformation

What a memory this song is for me.

One of my earliest memories is of momma singing this melody.

It became more and more important as the years passed and it seemed closer to her time to leave and be by the calm ‘Bendemeer’.

It was the last thing she sang for me, and I will cherish it always. Here it is sung by another great voice and favorite of both my mom and dad. John Charles Thomas.

There’s a bower of roses, by Bendemeer’s Stream,
And the nightingale sings ’round it all the day long.
In the time of my childhood ‘Twas like a sweet dream,
To sit in the roses And hear the bird’s song.
That bow’r and its music I ne’er can forget,
But of when alone In the bloom of the year
I think, “Is the nightingale singing there yet?”
Are the roses still bright by the calm Bendemeer?”

No, the roses soon withered that hung o’er the wave,
But some blossoms were gathered While freshly they shone,
And the dew was distilled from the flowers, that gave
All the fragrance of summer – when summer is gone.
Thus memory draws from delight ere it dies,
An essence that breathes of it many a year.
Thus, bright to my soul as ’twas then to my eyes,
Is that bow’r on the banks of the calm Bendemeer.