A FAREWELL: TO C. E. G.
Reading edition
My fairest child, I have no song to give you; No lark could pipe in skies so dull and gray; Yet, if you will, one quiet hint I’ll leave you, For every day.
I’ll tell you how to sing a clearer carol Than lark who hails the dawn or breezy down To earn yourself a purer poet’s laurel Than Shakespeare’s crown.
Be good, sweet maid, and let who can be clever; Do lovely things, not dream them, all day long; And so make Life, and Death, and that For Ever, One grand sweet song.
February 1, 1856.