Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DEPARTED FRIEND, by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DEPARTED FRIEND, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Though he that ever kind and true
Last Line: Waits on a stile.
Alternate Author Name(s): Stevenson, Robert Lewis Balfour
Variant Title(s): Verses Written In 1872;resurgence
Subject(s): Death; Friendship; Grief; Religion; Dead, The; Sorrow; Sadness; Theology


THOUGH HE that, ever kind and true,
Kept stoutly step by step with you,
Your whole long, gusty lifetime through,
Be gone a while before --
Be now a moment gone before --
Yet doubt not; soon the season shall restore
Your friend to you.

He has but turned the corner -- still
He pushes on with right good will
Through mire and marsh, by heugh and hill
That selfsame arduous way --
That selfsame, upland, hopeful way,
That you and he, through many a doubtful day
Attempted still.

He is not dead -- this friend -- not dead,
But in the path we mortals tread
Got some few trifling steps ahead,
And nearer to the end;
So that you, too, once past the bend,
Shall meet again, as face to face, this friend
You fancy dead.

Push gaily on, brave heart, the while
You travel forward mile by mile,
He loiters, with a backward smile,
Till you can overtake;
And strains his eyes to search his wake,
Or, whistling as he sees you through the brake,
Waits on a stile.





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