University of Virginia Library


18

The End of the Term

St. Andrews

Farewell: before the winter goes we go,
Before the flush of spring,
We leave the gardens flaked with foam for snow,
Ere the larks dare to sing:
Good-bye! the minster gray
Must watch it pass away,
The flitting colour of the scarlet gown,
We shall not see the green above the gray,
The summer in the Town.
Farewell the long line of the violet hills
Beyond the yellow sand,
The wide brown level that the water fills
Between the sea and land;
The sea-birds call and cry
On shining sands or dry,
Along the foam-fringed marges of the Bay;
We shall not see the splendour of July
Here—nor the longest day!

19

Farewell! for turning a reluctant face
Once more we seek the din,
The lurid light on that abhorrent place
Of luxury and sin;
Farewell! yet once we knew
How the brief twilight through
The sunset with the sunrise mingled here,
Above the grey links and the waters blue
In summer of the year.