years,
Ere they have looked in loving eyes again. 
Parting, at best, is underlaid
With tears and pain. 
Therefore, lest sudden death should come between. 
Or time, or distance, clasp with pressure firm
The hand of him who goeth forth;
Unseen, Fate goeth too. 
Yes, find thou always time to say some earnest word
Between the idle talk,
Lest with thee henceforth,
Night and day, regret should walk.

COVENTRY PATMORE.

TO LUCASTA.

     ON GOING TO THE WARS.

Tell me not, sweet, I am unkinde,
  That from the nunnerie
Of thy chaste breast and quiet minde,
  To warre and armes I flee.

True, a new mistresse now I chase.—­
  The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith imbrace
  A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such
  As you, too, shall adore;
I could not love thee, deare, so much,
  Loved I not honour more.

RICHARD LOVELACE.

GOOD-BYE.

“Farewell! farewell!” is often heard
  From the lips of those who part: 
’Tis a whispered tone,—­’tis a gentle word,
  But it springs not from the heart. 
It may serve for the lover’s closing lay,
  To be sung ’neath a summer sky;
But give to me the lips that say
  The honest words, “Good-bye!”
“Adieu! adieu!” may greet the ear,
  In the guise of courtly speech: 
But when we leave the kind and dear,
  ’Tis not what the soul would teach. 
Whene’er we grasp the hands of those
  We would have forever nigh,
The flame of Friendship bursts and glows
  In the warm, frank words, “Good-bye.”

The mother, sending forth her child
  To meet with cares and strife,
Breathes through her tears her doubts and fears
  For the loved one’s future life. 
No cold “adieu,” no “farewell,” lives
  Within her choking sigh,
But the deepest sob of anguish gives,
  “God bless thee, boy!  Good-bye!”

Go, watch the pale and dying one,
  When the glance hast lost its beam;
When the brow is cold as the marble stone,
  And the world a passing dream;
And the latest pressure of the hand,
  The look of the closing eye,
Yield what the heart must understand,
  A long, a last Good-bye.

ANONYMOUS.

AE FOND KISS BEFORE WE PART.

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, alas, forever! 
Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee;
Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee. 
Who shall say that fortune grieves him,
While the star of hope she leaves him? 
Me, nae cheerfu’ twinkle lights me;
Dark despair around benights me.

I’ll ne’er blame my partial fancy—­
Naething could resist my Nancy: 
But to see her was to love her,
Love but her, and love forever. 
Had we never loved sae kindly,
Had we never loved sae blindly,
Never met—­or never parted,
We had ne’er been broken-hearted.