No regret, no blaming;
Absence has not shaken:
Far apart, still close in heart;
Undoubting, unforsaken.
As the circle narrows
We draw near and nearer;
So, old friend! as comes the end
Thou art dearer, dearer.
TO E. C. S.
ON HIS SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY
His life was generous as his life was long—
Filled to the brim with friendship and with song.
"TELL ME GOOD-BY"
Dark Southern girl! the dream-like day is past,
The harbor light burns red against the sky;
In the high blue, star follows star full fast;
The ship that takes me northward loometh nigh;
"Tell me good-by!"
Good-by to the red rose that is your mouth,
The tender violets that are your sigh;
The sweetness that you are—that is my South;
Ah, not too soon, Enchantress, do I fly!
"Tell me good-by."
"Tell me good-by,"—but not too sweetly tell
Lest all too hard the going, lest I cry
"Never, no never!" tho' the parting bell
Ring madly in the night; not then could I
Tell you good-by.
