Above the wall that's broken, 
And from the coppice thinned, 
So sacred and so sweet 
The lilac in the wind! 
And when by night the May wind blows 
The lilac-blooms apart, 
The memory of his first love 
Is shaken on his heart. 

In tears it long was buried, 
And trances wrapt it round; 
O how they wake it now, 
The fragrance and the sound! 
For when by night the May wind blows 
The lilac-blooms apart, 
The memory of his first love 
Is shaken on his heart.