[Intro]
a rose left in the book kept the summer alive
though all the golden afternoons had gone

[Verse 1]
Between two pages where your handwriting sleeps
a little red weather of memory keeps
its fragile color, its breath of rain
its quiet refusal to fade into pain

[Pre-Chorus]
I turned the leaf, but I did not turn away
some loves are pressed in the heart to stay

[Chorus]
Rose in the book, rose in the evening
what did you know that I could not say
long after youth has vanished from singing
you keep one summer from passing away

[Instrumental Interlude]

[Verse 2]
The library window was silver with dust
the clock had forgotten both hunger and rust
I read your name in a margin of blue
and all the old light came walking through

[Bridge]
Do not bloom too loudly now
let beauty keep its vow

[Final Chorus]
Rose in the book, rose in the evening
what did you know that I could not say
long after youth has vanished from singing
you keep one summer from passing away

[Outro]
a rose left in the book kept the summer alive