Poem by Alice Cary

Dying Song

Leave me, O leave me! my o'erwearied feet,
O my beloved! may walk no more with thee;
For I am standing where the circles meet
That mortals name, Time and Eternity.

Tell me, O tell me not of summer flowers
In vales where once our steps together trod;
Even though I now behold the shining towers
That rise above the city of our God.

I know that the wide fields of heaven are fair --
That on their borders grief is all forgot;
That the white tents of beauty, too, are there --
But how shall I be blessed where thou art not?

Over the green hills, that are only crossed
By drifts of light, and choruses of glee,
How shall I wander like a spirit lost,
And fallen and ruiled, missing, mourning thee!

If any wrong of mine, or thought, or said,
Has given thee pain or sorrow, O forgive!
As wilt thou not, my friend, when I am dead,
And by my errors better learn to live.

There is not found in all the pleasant past,
One memory of thee that I deplore,
Or wish not to be in my heart at last,
When I shall fall asleep to wake no more.

Then leave, oh leave me! though I see the light
Of heaven's sweet clime, and hear the angel's call,
Where there is never any cloud nor night,
Thy love is stronger, mightier than all!

1. Dissatisfied
2. Lyra
3. A Hymn to the Night
4. The Deserted Fylgia
5. Mulberry Hill

Print

1294 Views

Last Poems

To Russian version