means The words of a song, or short personal poetry that sings with feeling rather than telling a long story.

from From Greek 'lyrikos,' meaning 'singing to the lyre' — the lyre being that small handheld harp the ancient Greeks plucked while reciting verse. So 'lyric' literally carried the sound of strings: poetry meant to be sung, not declaimed. The word strolled through Latin 'lyricus' and French 'lyrique' before settling into English, where it eventually shed the harp and came to mean the words themselves.