Farewell! I know that never more Thy spirit, like the bird of day, Upon its own sweet song shall soar Along a sunny way! The hour that wakes the waterfall To music, in its far-off flight, And hears the silver fountains call, Like angels through the night, Shall bring thee songs whose tones are sighs From harps whose chords are memories! Night! when, like perfumes that have slept, All day, within the wild-flower's heart, Steal out the thoughts the soul has kept In silence and apart; And voices we have pined to hear, Through many a long and lonely day, Come back upon the dreaming ear, From grave-lands, far away; And gleams look forth, of spirit-eyes, Like stars along the darkening skies! When fancy and the lark are still-- Those riders of the morning gale! And walks the moon o'er vale and hill With memory and the nightingale; The moon that is the daylight's ghost (As memory is the ghost of hope), And holds a lamp to all things lost Beneath night's solemn cope, Pale as the light by memory led Along the cities of the dead! Alas, for thee! alas for thine! Thy youth that is no longer young! Whose heart, like Delphi's ruined shrine, Gives oracles--oh! still divine!-- But never more in song! Whose breast, like Echo's haunted hall, Is filled with murmurs of _the past_, Ere yet its "gold was dim," and all Its "pleasant things" laid waste! From whose sweet windows never more Shall look the sunny soul of yore! Farewell! I do not bid thee weep, The smile and tear are past for thee; The river of thy thoughts must keep Its solemn course, too still and deep For idle eyes to see! Oh! earthly things are all too far To throw their shadows o'er its stream! But, now and then, a silver star, And, now and then, a gleam Of glory from the skies be given, To light its waves with dreams of heaven!