Farewell, farewell! I must away,
Veil’d in my robe of misty gray;
For the shades of night are gathering fast,
The clear sunshine from the wave is past;
And yon first star of the welkin sheen,
The star of eve, is faintly seen.
The bee has forsaken the violet’s vest,
The twilight is lulling each bird to rest,
The lotus has sunk on the shaded stream,
And the daisy has veil’d her starry beam;
Yet the night-flowers’ bloom and the night-bird’s lay
Ye shall hear and see when I’m far away.
But weep not for me: I shall fade in the west,
Where the sea-waves shall murmur above my rest.
And shall lull me to sleep through the dreamy night,
Till again I appear with the dawning light,
Till again I return—and the joyous earth
Shall brighten and blush with the daylight’s birth.
Again will I come with to-morrow’s dawn,
When the dew is brightest o’er lea and lawn,
And waken each voice in your summer isle;
And the ocean-depths shall rejoice and smile,
And the woods shall ring with a joyous lay—
“Come forth to the dawning—away!—away!”
Yet ere I return the shadows will close
Over those who will sleep in their last repose;
For, ah! who shall tell of the with’ring blight,
Of the sorrows that come with the darksome night,
Of the budding rose, of the cheeks of bloom,
That may wither and fade in that hour of gloom?
But my tale is told, and I must afar,
For the Night is come in her sable car;
The moonlight is rising above the sea,
And a soft voice is singing afar for me:
It bids me depart from each grove and dell,
And I must away—farewell, farewell!
F. M.