Page:Songs of the Affections.pdf/113

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THE MESSAGE TO THE DEAD.
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THE MESSAGE TO THE DEAD.[1]




Thou'rt passing hence, my brother!
    Oh! my earliest friend, farewell!
Thou 'rt leaving me, without thy voice,
    In a lonely home to dwell;
And from the hills, and from the hearth,
    And from the household-tree,
With thee departs the lingering mirth,
    The brightness goes with thee.


  1. "Messages from the living to the dead are not uncommon in the Highlands. The Gael have such a ceaseless consciousness of immortality, that their departed friends are considered as merely absent for a time, and permitted to relieve the hours of separation by occasional intercourse with the objects of their earliest affections."—See the Notes to Mrs Brunton's Works.

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