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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONG OF MAELDUIN by THOMAS WILLIAM ROLLESTON

Poem Explanation

First Line: THERE ARE VEILS THAT LIFT, THERE ARE BARS THAT FALL
Last Line: GOOD-BYE--GOOD-BYE--GOOD-BYE!

There are veils that lift, there are bars that fall,
There are lights that beacon, and winds that call--
Good-bye!
There are hurrying feet, and we dare not wait,
For the hour is on us--the hour of Fate,
The circling hour of the flaming gate--
Good-bye--good-bye--good-bye!

Fair, fair they shine through the burning zone--
The rainbow gleams of a world unknown;
Good-bye!
And oh! to follow, to seek, to dare,
When, step by step, in the evening air
Floats down to meet us the cloudy stair!
Good-bye--good-bye--good-bye!

The cloudy stair of the Brig o' Dread
Is the dizzy path that our feet must tread--
Good-bye!
O children of time--O Nights and Days,
That gather and wonder and stand and gaze,
And wheeling stars in your lonely ways,
Good-bye--good-bye--good-bye!

The music calls and the gates unclose,
Onward and onward the wild way goes--
Good-bye!
We die in the bliss of a great new birth,
O fading phantoms of pain and mirth,
O fading loves of the old green earth--
Good-bye--good-bye--good-bye!



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