Her Last Words, at Parting
Her last words, at parting, how can I forget?
Deep treasured thro’ life, in my heart they shall stay;
Like music, whose charm in the soul lingers yet,
When its sounds from the ear have long melted away.
Let Fortune assail me, her threatenings are vain;
Those still-breathing words shall my talisman be,—
“Remember, in absence, in sorrow, and pain,
“There’s one heart, unchanging, that beats but for thee.”
From the desert’s sweet well tho’ the pilgrim must hie,
Never more of that fresh-springing fountain to taste,
He hath still of its bright drops a treasured supply,
Whose sweetness lends life to his lips thro’ the waste.
So, dark as my fate is still doomed to remain,
These words shall my well in the wilderness be,—
“Remember, in absence, in sorrow, and pain,
“There’s one heart, unchanging, that beats but for thee.”