Patiently Smiling

I enter this room with a thrill in my heart
Knowing my loved one is near
For though, alas! We are world's apart
I am quite close to her here!
O heart, beat less madly! Lie still in my breast!
For happiness vainly you yearn!
The sadness within must ne'er be confessed
‘Tis a secret that none may learn!

His sorrows a man from the East ne'er reveals
And nobody knows how deeply he feels!

Patiently smiling, whate'er may fall!
I'll go on smiling, in spite of it all!
Fortune may frown, but I keep smiling!
I may be sad at heart, but nobody knows!

To her I'm stranger, and ever must be
Foreign in thought and in speech
For her there's no danger in flirting with me
She is so far from my reach!
I dream ev'ry night of her beauty and grace
I waken to learn, once again
My love in her heart can ne'er find a place
I have dreamt of her all in vain!

And so, without hope, for my loved one I pine
For though I am hers, she cannot be mine!

Yet I keep smiling, in spite of it all!
Patiently smiling, whate'er may fall!
And if my heart is filled with sorrow
That is the secret I hide ‘neath a smile!

Patiently smiling, whate'er may fall!
Fortune may frown, but I keep smiling!
I may be sad at heart, but nobody knows!