Classic Poem

When morning comes, the last pale star
Must crowd all sail and flee:
The wave that leaps the harbour-bar
Says " Farewell " to the sea.
The violet in the hollow lane
May long to linger there:
Nay, it must pass! The golden grain
Must leave the furrows bare.

" Farewell! " they say, " Adieu! " they cry,
All sweet sad earthly things:
The loveliest sun-kissed rose must die;
The swallow spreads her wings.
The crocus with its golden smile
Must vanish from the grass:
The tulip tarries for awhile,
And then it too must pass.

Farewell! farewell! — the saddest cry
That ever earth has heard:
So says the sunset to the sky,
The green bough to the bird.
So says the rainbow to the spray,
The linnet to her nest;
So says the dying summer day
Unto the mountain's crest.

So many golden hours we've known,
May know so many yet;
We've seen the sun ascend his throne,
Have watched the same sun set:
Will there be one last hour of all?
Last hour of summer bloom,
Last green leaf trembling to its fall.
Last roseleaf to its doom?

Oh sweetheart, must we say " Farewell "
Will all be over soon?
Will that green pathway through the dell
With dying leaves be strewn?
— Life's vessel glides away so fast,
Away from you and me:
We saw the hull — we see the mast —
That soon we shall not see!