The poetical remains of William Sidney Walker :: :: University of Virginia Library

Go forth to thine appointed rest
Beyond the broad sea-foam;
Go forth, our fairest and our best,
To thy far island-home!
With him, thy youthful heart's approved,
Thy mate for many a year beloved,
In thy full matron bloom
Go forth, to act, as fate commands,
Thy part of life in other lands.

Kind thoughts attend thee, from the place
Where thou hast been so long
A daily sight, a household face,
A mate in work and song;
A flower to cheer, a lamp to shed
Soft light beside the sick one's bed:
To that beloved throng
Each act of daily life shall be
A mute remembrancer of thee.

Full well we know, where'er thy lot,
Thou canst not be alone;
For Love, in earth's unkindliest spot,
Will find, or make, its own;
And from the green and living heart
New friendships still, like buds, will start:
But yet, wherever thrown,
No ties can cling around thy mind
So close as those, thou leav'st behind.

And oft, while gazing on the sea
That girds thy lonely isle,
Shall faithful memory bring to thee
The home so loved erewhile;
Its lightsome rooms, its pleasant bowers,
The children, that like opening flowers
Grew up beneath thy smile;
The hearts, that shared from earliest years
Thy joys and griefs, thy hopes and fears.

The sister's brow, so blithe of yore,
With early care imprest;
And she, whose failing eyes no more
Upon her child may rest;
And kindred forms, and they who eyed
Thy beauty with a brother's pride;
And friends beloved the best,
The kind, the joyous, the sincere,
Shall to thine inward sight appear.

And they, whose dying looks on thee
In grief and love were cast,—
The leaves, from off our household tree
Swept by the varying blast,—
Oft, in the mystery of sleep,
Shall Love evoke them from the deep
Of the unfathomed Past,
And Fancy gather round thy bed
The spirits of the gentle Dead.

Farewell! if on this parting day
Remorseful thoughts invade
One heart, for blessings cast away,
And fondness ill repaid;
He will not breathe them:—let them rest
Within the stillness of the breast;
Be thy remembrance made
A home, where chastening thoughts may dwell:—
My own true sister, fare thee well!