Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AT PARTYING, by GEORGE HERBERT CLARKE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AT PARTYING, by                    
First Line: The night is silent, love, and here beside thee
Last Line: Ah, holy, holy moment of farewell!
Subject(s): Farewell; Grief; Love; Silence; Parting; Sorrow; Sadness


THE night is silent, love, and here beside thee,
Holding the hand that is not now denied me,
I too am still; how shall I say farewell?

No words have we, and yet the summer weather,
Lulling the garden, gathers us together,
And mingles us with myrrh and asphodel.

Was there a time before that time, I wonder,
When something flashed and rent the veil asunder,
And visions faded and the Truth befell?

And now, because thou art the Truth, I'll grieve thee
No longer by forbearing to believe thee,
Though I am sent upon a sorrow-spell.

How long the way thou sayest not, but only
That I must tread it loyally and lonely,
Unheeding whether heaven wait, or hell.

Why this must be I cannot know, belovéd,
But thou dost know, and howsoe'er removéd,
Some day, perchance, the secret thou wilt tell.

Nothing I ask; how shall the Truth be bounded?
I leave thee, yet by thee I'm still surrounded:
The sea's voice sounds about the farthest shell.

The moonlight deepens, love, and grows to golden,
And thou and I in it are strangely holden;—
Ah, holy, holy moment of farewell!





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