The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1896-11-21
THE MAIDEN's FAREWELL.

Written for the Neihart HERALD
Farewell. My dream is ended. and awake stand
upon the brink of deaths dark river: in my hand
/ nold nfes empty vase, whose fow'rs are dead
And w,ithered, and whose sweet perfume has fed
One plunge beneath its deep aud turbid tide.
Then rest. sweet rest, to me so long denied,
Shall fold me meath her broad, white wings again
And sweet oblivion soothe my weary brain.
beneath the music of this murm'ring stream,
NO sound shall break the silence of my dream:
And as IN peace the stream glideS on It's way,
70 bear its secrets to the ocean far away,
Inc pam and anguish buried there below.
Forgotn, lost, unwept thro' all the coming years
| lay LIES burden down in shame and tears.
Farewell, BIT ere I go, down at the fountains
brink,
In fancy let me once more kneel and drink
The sparkling waters of loves trust and sacred
truth,
That once l tho't would bring me eterna al youth
Back to the long ago. so calm and sweet.
Let memory guide my tired and waywaid feet,
And as | Gull once more loves s%pringtime fow'rs
Forget the weary way, and sorrow. burdeu'd
hours
That lie between this life and that, and feel,
As at my mothers feet | once more kneel,
Ihat same sweet peace and joy that came to all
Whose hearts obeysthe sweet and sacred call,
That echoes thro' the soul with pleading tones.
AM leads our tempted feet DER thorns and
stones,
| And faithful still, where r our hearts may roam
At last will guide and bring us safely home.
Farewell! But only let me once more see and kno'
Dear scenes / knew and lov'd and lost so long age.
l long for one more kiss from mother, one good
night
Beneath the dear old roof, and in the golden lit
Of other days, o, let me battle my aching brow
And he as then-forgetting self aud now.
With happy heart long to seek some shady lane
Where, far away from life with all its care and
pain.
I'd live my childhood DER. among the flowers:
Where years would be as days and days as hours
| would remember then! whate'er the world
might say
And all your pleading could not tempt my feet
to stray
From that dear spot again. and meath It's shell
firing caves,
I'd listen to a voice whose music ne'er deceives
Farewell. I'll brush away these bitter, useless
That fall on virtues grave. and in the coming
years
I'll dream no more of happiness: fiom out my
heart
III cast. with you, my all; and when we part,
One hope alone I'll take with me-my last
That when the bright. sweet dreams Of life that's
Have faded, and the cheerless future. bleak and
bare,
Throws DER my heart its shroud of black despair
Then may the Hand that leads our falt'ring feet
BY pastures green and living waters sweet.
Reach down. and in the Masters blessed name,
Take from my brow at last the crown of shame.
And by his love so houndless. full and free,
In mercy make me what | was and hoped to be.
FOR this, and only this, Illlive; what else haveI?
You leave me nothing; let us say good by.
Farewell! For you there's hope. and joy, and
peace;
Your life begins just where my life must cease;
For you there s sunshine and a cloudleSs sky
For me the buds of hope must fade and die.
Here you and |. who sinn'd alike, must part.
And all the world must know my inmo-t heart,
And say that one shall stand-the other fall:
That one shall nothing lose-the other ALL.
While both are sentenced Ii in a single breath,
The one TO love and life-the other shame and
death.
Go. then, in peace. the world has said you may;
NO word OF mine shall ever bid you stay,
Ana since true manhood gave your soul no
charm
To guard sweet innocence and trust from harm.
Col .ay loves tempting incense at another's
shrine,
And teach HER heart the misery taught to MINE.
Farewell! Regrets are useless now, and tears
are vain,
For virtue lost has never yet been found again.
Aud when the vase is broken and the low'rs
have died.
When hearts as useless have heen rudely cast
aside,
Who then can gather up the faded leaves anew.
And weave them into garlands for the good and
true?
rs we have sown, SO shall we reap the rip'nipg
grain,
And while for me the sheaves bring only grief
and pain,
For yon there comes life's sunshine with the
And al your garnered sheaves are bound with
flow'rs.
Oh, Thou, who guardst the weak against the
strong.
From whom no law or custom hides a wrong,
Judge thou between us justly ere we part,
And tear for tear, and grief for grief, give thou
each heart,
And lest, dear Lord, Thy death may prove in
vain,
Upon his fair, false face imprint the mark of
CAIN CLIFF ABBOTT, Grandview, Ind.