Mario:

I shall be eternally grateful to you for finding those lyrics and/or poem.

It seems that Alice Cary (1820-1871) published several books of poems as well as a book entitled "Ballads, Lyrics, and Hymns" (1866) . . . the lines you provided could have been from an old song that was transcribed in that book, or they could be one of her poems that someone put to music.

In either event I will try to come up with the tune - first by searching for it here and elsewhere on the internet, then see if I can reconstruct it from my rather weak "remembory".

Heck, I'll try to give a rough idea of the tune here - this is the best I can remember:

(approx note values: a = 1/8; A = 1/4; A. = 1/2; A.. = whole I hope this goofy notation "system" makes some sense)

GGC.C.ccG..
ECFGAG.
CCDEgG.
eeFEDC..

The C notes in the 1st line and the A in the second are above the G and all the remaining CDEF noted are below the G. The number of notes on each line does not fit with the exactly with the syllables in the lyric . . . either I am off in remembering the tune (57 years can dull ones memeory, no?) or the lyrics of the song were a variation that fit the music above. Most likely the former.

Eu