ON SCHUBERT’S SERENADE

By Luis G. Dato

In days of old, one moonlight night,
When young was life and earth and art,
A lover asked his friend to write
A song to win a fair one’s heart.

The outcome the world knows so well
The immortal Schubert’s Serenade,
Which holds the heart still in its spell,
A sweet song sobbing o’er the glade.

And a dear friendship came to end -­
The poet the fair lady wed,
For she her heart gave not his friend,
But loved the poet in his stead.

Ah, strange and curious heritage,
It haunts its hearers through the years,
And in its wake from age to age,
Leaves golden dreams and falling tears,

Then sing not so its haunting strain,
For it to history is true,
Lest singing for someone in vain,
The loved one fall in love with you.