VALE.
Hail, and farewell! O balm and bane
Of earthly joy and earthly sorrow!
We only meet to part again,
And night still shrouds the brightest morrow.
Of earthly joy and earthly sorrow!
We only meet to part again,
And night still shrouds the brightest morrow.
One day, and drunken with delight,
The wild bird sings to each new-comer;
The next, he wings his alien flight,
To find far off the vanished summer.
The wild bird sings to each new-comer;
The next, he wings his alien flight,
To find far off the vanished summer.
One moment, and our hearts have flown
Through clasping hands and fond lips meeting;
The next, we stand and wait alone,
While memory holds the place of greeting.
Through clasping hands and fond lips meeting;
The next, we stand and wait alone,
While memory holds the place of greeting.
O promised land, supremely fair,
To whose blest height our feet are turning!
Of all thy gifts most strange and rare
For which our longing hearts are burning,—
To whose blest height our feet are turning!
Of all thy gifts most strange and rare
For which our longing hearts are burning,—
