The North Carolinian

THE LAST GOOD-BYE
BY ELIZA COOK.

Farewell! Farewell!! is often heard
From the lips of those who part;
'Tis a whisper'd tone, 'tis a gentle word,
But it springs not from the heart.

It may serve for the lover's lay,
To be sung 'neath a summer sky;
But give me the lips that say
In honest words, "Good-bye!"

Adieu! Adieu! may greet the ear,
In guise of courtly speech.
But when we leave the kind and dear,
'Tis not what the soul would reach.

Whene'er we grasp the hands of those
We would have farewell nigh,
The flame of friendship burns and glows
In the warm, true words, "Good-bye!"

The mother revising-forth her child
To meet with care and strife,
Breathes through her tears for doubts and fears
For the loved one's future life.

No cold "adieu," no "farewell" lives
Within her choking sigh;
But the deeper sob of anguish gives
"God bless thee, boy! good-bye!"

Go, watch the pale and dying one,
When the glance has lost its beam;
When the brow is cold as marble stone,
And the world a passing dream.

And the last pressure of the hand,
The look of the closing eye,
Yield what the heart must understand,
A long, a last "Good-bye!"

From the Microcosm.