Classic Poem

Farewell! ... a word we shrink to speak, or hear,
Of cherished hours the melancholy knell,
Nor heard, nor spoke, without a boding fear
That it may be forever. ... Fare ye well!

Farewell! ... and if forever, will ye not
Think of your friend and the last look he gave?
One thought from you, though by the world forgot
Were as a flower to deck his nameless grave.

Farewell! farewell! ... His pilgrimage of woes
End when, and where, and howsoe'er it will,
Can only bring an aching heart repose
And bid a throbbing brain at length be still.

Farewell! once more ... if e'er his soul finds rest
He might but leave with those he loved a spell
To keep them happy — blessing all and blest
It should be breathed in his last word — Farewell!