Farewell

                      I.

You bade me come to you to-night,

     You said you had strange news to tell;

You meet me with a haughty gaze

In which naught but indifference plays,

     And simply say, “farewell”.

I scan your face; no pity there;

‘Tis statue like, and full as fair;

     And e’en your voice rings not with pain.

Your heart responds not to the cry

Of one which throbs in agony,

     That you this might have slain.

But tell me, fair one, for ‘tis my due,

If you are false or justly true.

                      II.

I know it sometimes has been done,

     Because ‘twere better so, they said;

But can you tell me peerless one

     That by that motive you are led?

If not, then surely you have played

Me false, and at your door is laid

A sin more scarlet than the spot

Upon your cheek which blushes hot.

But truth will speak; itself will defend;

     While falsity silence will keep;

And truth will stand proudly unto the end

     Tho’ hearts may break and souls may weep.

But whether you’re false or justly true,

I pray you tell me, for ‘tis my due.

                      III.

And still your lips refuse to speak?

Your tongue seems frozen to your cheek?

Or, is it coated so thickly with lies,

     Which, tho’ yet untold, are only held

     In check because it is thus swelled

To such uncommon size?

But, since I’ve failed in gaining you,

I trust I’ve been entertaining you.

My life would be one ceaseless pain

To think I’d lived it all in vain;

And, too, I’m glad that you’re too wise

To make so vast a sacrifice.

‘Twould be dull and monotonous duty

For one of your rank and beauty

To hold with me those wedlock bands,

     Whose only means at present is

An honest heart, to ready hands

     To grasp great possibilities.

                      IV.

But of what use me thus to speak?

     You long have known as well as I,

     What plans we had for by the by;

How oft we strolled in twilight’s still,

Adown the meadow, past the mill,

And, musing over on the way

Our former plans, or new ones lay –

But, ah! what use me thus to speak?

‘Tis idle talk, unmanly, weak!

You bade me come to you tonight,

     You said you had strange news to tell;

“Strange news, indeed!” but you were right;

The strangest news that e’er took flight

Has fallen from your lips to-night;

     I simply say “farewell”.

Jan. 12, ‘92
Pub. in Ct.

Valley Advertiser