The Outcast's Farewell

The sun is banished,     The daylight vanished,     No rosy traces          Are left behind.     Here in the meadow     I watch the shadow     Of forms and faces          Upon your blind.     Through swift transitions,     In new positions,     My eyes still follow          One shape most fair.     My heart delaying     Awhile, is playing     With pleasures hollow,          Which mock despair.     I feel so lonely,     I long once only     To pass an hour          With you, O sweet!     To touch your fingers,     Where fragrance lingers     From some rare flower,          And kiss your feet.     But not this even     To me is given.     Of all sad mortals          Most sad am I,     Never to meet you,     Never to greet you,     Nor pass your portals          Before I die.     All men scorn me,     Not one will mourn me,     When from their city          I pass away.     Will you to-morrow     Recall with sorrow     Him whom with pity          You saw to-day?     Outcast and lonely,     One thing only     Beyond misgiving          I hold for true,     That, had you known me,     You would have shown me     A life worth living--          A life for you.     Yes: five years younger     My manhood's hunger     Had you come filling          With plenty sweet,     My life so nourished,     Had grown and flourished,     Had God been willing          That we should meet.     How vain to fashion     From dreams and passion     The rich existence          Which might have been!     Can God's own power     Recall the hour,     Or bridge the distance          That lies between?     Before the morning,     From pain and scorning     I sail death's river          To sleep or hell.     To you is given     The life of heaven.     Farewell for ever,          Farewell, farewell!