Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HAIL AND FAREWELL, by EDWARD NOYES POMEROY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HAIL AND FAREWELL, by                    
First Line: The world will wear a sadder face
Last Line: Hail, gracious spirit, and farewell!
Subject(s): Farewell; Parting


The world will wear a sadder face,
Its heart will bear another pain,
That for her pity's tender grace
Its hungry search will be in vain.

"Her eyes were homes of silent prayer";
Her heart was like a swelling sea,
And many a grief and many a care
Were gathered to their sympathy.

Her mind was like a temple old,
Whose walls were hung by pious hands,
With offerings of gems and gold,
The ample spoils of many lands.

Or, rather, like a Christian fane,
With windows bright and portals wide,
And pouring harmonies to gain
The throngs that long have truth denied.

To lose her from our eager ken,
To lose her thought to ripeness grown,
To lose her presence, are as when
A richly freighted ship goes down.

A chasm cleaves the ocean stream,
The waves close over as before,
The lonely seabirds wheel and scream,
The stately ship returns no more.

While dazed and shivering at its brink,
Where sorrow's deep to deep replies,
It seems incredible to think
The grave could win so rare a prize.

It cannot be that earth is all,
That she today is less than we,
That death can hold within its thrall
A life like this; it cannot be.

The heart whose throbbing silent is
To earthly senses beats on high;
The star-like soul is quenched in this,
To brighten in another sky.

Oh, whom but yesterday we knew,
Whose thoughts today we cannot tell,
We know thou still to truth art true;
Hail, gracious spirit, and farewell!





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