The Poetical Works of William Motherwell/To a Friend at Parting
To a Friend at Parting.[1]
Farewell, my friend!—Perchance again
I'll clasp thee to a faithful heart—
Farewell my friend!—We part in pain,
Yet we must part!
Were this memento to declare
All that the inward moods portray,
Dark boding grief were pictured there,
And wild dismay!
For thee, my fancy paints a scene
Of peace on life's remoter shore—
Thy wishes long fulfilled have been,
Or even more:
And when success hath crowned thy toil,
And hope hath raised thy heart to Heaven—
Thou well mayst love the generous soil
Where love was given.
For me, my friend, I fear there's nought.
In dim futurity, of gladness;
There ever rises on my thought
A dream of sadness:
Yet gazing upon guileless faces,
Sunned by the light of laughing eyes,
I recreant were to own no traces
Of social ties.
Even I may borrow from another
The smile I fain would call my own,
Striving, with childish art, to smother
The care unknown.
Farewell! Farewell!—All good attend thee—
At home, abroad—on land, or sea—
That Heaven may evermore befriend thee,
My prayer shall be!
Should a dark thought of him arise
Whose parting hand thou must resign,
Let it go forth to stormy skies,
Not tarnish thine:
Never may Melancholy's brood
Disturb the fountain of thy joy,
Nor dusky Passion's fitful mood
Thy peace alloy!
'Up, anchor! up!'—The mariner
Thus hymns to the inconstant wind—
Heave not one sigh, where'er you steer,
For me behind!
- ↑ The "Friend at Parting" was Mr Robert Peacock, at present (July, 1848) resident, I believe, in Germany.—K.