Farewell! farewell! for thee arise
The bitter thoughts that pass not o’er;
And friendship’s tears, and friendship’s sighs,
Can never reach thee more;
For thou art dead, and all are vain
To call thee back to earth again;
And thou hast died where stranger’s feet
Alone towards thy grave could bend;
And that last duty, sad; but sweet,
Has not been destined for thy friend:
He was not near to calm thy smart,
And press thee to his bleeding heart.
He was not near, in that dark hour
When Reason fled her ruined shrine,
To soothe with Pity’s gentle power,
And mingle his faint sighs with thine;
And pour the parting tear to thee,
As pledge of his fidelity.
He was not near when thou wert borne
By others to thy parent earth,
To think of former days, and mourn,
In silence, o’er departed worth;
And seek thy cold and cheerless bed,
And breathe a blessing for the dead.
Destroying Death! thou hast one link
That bound me in this world’s frail chain:
Like one whose heart is cleft in twain;
Save that, at times, a thought will steal
To tell me that it still can feel.
Oh! what delights, what pleasant hours
In which all joys were wont to blend,
Have faded now — and all Hope’s flowers
Have withered with my youthful friend,
Thou feel’st no pain within the tomb —
‘Tis theirs alone who weep thy doom.
Long wilt thou be the cherished theme
Of all their fondness — all their praise;
In daily thought and nightly dream,
In crowded halls and lonely ways;
And they will hallow every scene
Where thou in joyous youth hast been.
Theirs is the grief that cannot die,
And in their heart will be the strife
That must remain with memory,
Uncancelled from the book of life.
Their breasts will be the mournful urns
Where sorrow’s incense ever burns.
(H S Van Dyk)
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Based on Topics: Life Poems, Mind Poems, Sadness Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Joy & Excitement Poems, Dreams Poems, Friendship Poems, Thought & Thinking Poems, Art Poems, Power Poems, Silence PoemsBased on Keywords: uncancelled