Adieu in Tears
I
I feared not then to breathe a last farewell,
For solace bloomed where silent hours grew kind;
Though bitter winds of parting fiercely fell,
I wove our days like shelter in my mind.
My path was lit by conscience clear and bright,
By passion stirred, yet governed by control;
I thought that loss would grant my spirit light,
And solitude would steady my torn soul.
Yet when thou turnedst and vanished from my sight,
A shadow clung and would not pass away;
It haunted all my thoughts from morn to night,
A ghost no strength of mine could drive away.
Thus parting proved not peace but deeper pain,
For love once lost lets sorrow rise and reign.
II
Through trembling tears I gazed upon thy face,
Though joy and grief together ruled my breath;
Yet had I known thy cheeks would bear the trace
Of sorrow carved by parting’s quiet death,
I ne’er had dared behold that final view,
Nor spoken words that forced our hearts apart;
I ne’er had dreamed those moments were so few
Before farewell could break thy faithful heart.
I would not yield my very soul to care,
Had fate revealed the cost such love would bring—
To see thee weep in grief beyond repair,
While silence closed around us like a ring.
For love that lives yet feeds on tears alone
Turns sweetest joy to grief that cuts to bone.
III
I was the thorn beside thy tender bloom,
Yet never meant to wound thee with my pain;
If healing grew where sorrow found its room,
Then mercy bloomed from all our common strain.
Through thee I learned the depths affection knows,
A hidden sea my heart had never seen;
And thus I walked where hidden sorrow grows,
To seek the life where hope might rise serene.
I longed to clasp thy heart and read each line
Thy love had written softly in my soul;
But when thine eyes with falling tears did shine,
My strength dissolved beyond all self-control.
O let each tear thou shed in parting’s hour
Live on in me as love’s undying flower.
IV
When thou didst turn away in silent woe,
And didst hide tears thy trembling heart had borne,
The world grew cold as if it ceased to glow,
And hope lay pale as dawn too soon outworn.
No sun could warm the sorrow of that sight,
No kindly hour erase its bitter stain;
For love, once severed in departing night,
Returns no more but echoes back as pain.
Each falling tear became a living scar,
Engraved within the chambers of my breast;
Its hidden fire outburned the coldest star,
And robbed my weary spirit of its rest.
Thus loss now reigns where once affection stood,
And leaves my days beneath grief’s ceaseless flood.
