Classic Poem

Now swiftly down towards the salt-breathed sea
The cool wind wafts us, and we bid farewell
To the lone Isle that slumbers on our lee;
Farewell, perchance, forever. Who can tell?
Years hence, in separate lands, our thoughts may dwell,
But for a little moment, on this night,
And Memory may wake within her cell,
And lead us here by this same starry light,
Our long-divided souls, embracing, reünite.

PARTING SONG.

Part! the word must not be spoken!
Part! our hearts must ne'er be broken!
Rivers meet and mix forever,
Why are we, love, doomed to sever?
Oh! the cruel, cruel anguish!
How the senses droop and languish!
For the fiat may be spoken,
And our hearts may both be broken!

Comes the Night, the Evening greeting,
Ever thus behold them meeting;
But for us — what hope before us?
Not a star is shining o'er us;
But the heav'n of love is clouded,
Wildly, darkly, blackly shrouded,
For an iron tongue hath spoken,
And our hope in hope is broken!

In my brain a fire is burning,
Backward to my heart returning,
And my nerves, that drooped to sadness,
Are re-strung to desp'rate madness!
Leap, ye burning thoughts that rend me,
Let not Pity's voice befriend me!
Curs'd the lips that lie hath spoken!
For our hearts shall not be broken!