| |
| “FAREWELL! farewell!” is often heard | |
| From the lips of those who part: | |
| ’T is a whispered tone,—’t is a gentle word, | |
| But it springs not from the heart. | |
| It may serve for the lover’s closing lay, | 5 |
| To be sung ’neath a summer sky; | |
| But give to me the lips that say | |
| The honest words, “Good-bye!” | |
| |
| “Adieu! adieu!” may greet the ear, | |
| In the guise of courtly speech: | 10 |
| But when we leave the kind and dear, | |
| ’T is not what the soul would teach. | |
| Whene’er we grasp the hands of those | |
| We would have forever nigh, | |
| The flame of Friendship bursts and glows | 15 |
| In the warm, frank words, “Good-bye.” | |
| |
| The mother, sending forth her child | |
| To meet with cares and strife, | |
| Breathes through her tears her doubts and fears | |
| For the loved one’s future life. | 20 |
| No cold “adieu,” no “farewell,” lives | |
| Within her choking sigh, | |
| But the deepest sob of anguish gives, | |
| “God bless thee, boy! Good-bye!” | |
| |
| Go, watch the pale and dying one, | 25 |
| When the glance hast lost its beam; | |
| When the brow is cold as the marble stone, | |
| And the world a passing dream; | |
| And the latest pressure of the hand, | |
| The look of the closing eye, | 30 |
| Yield what the heart must understand, | |
| A long, a last Good-bye. | |
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