Leaves of Grass :[1891] Including Sands at Seventy...1st Annex, Good-Bye my Fancy...2d Annex, A Backward Glance o'er Travel'd Roads, and Portrait from Life |
GOOD-BYE MY FANCY. |
Leaves of Grass :[1891] | ||
GOOD-BYE MY FANCY.
Good-bye my fancy—(I had a word to say,But 'tis not quite the time—The best of any man's word or say,
Is when its proper place arrives—and for its meaning,
I keep mine till the last.)
Behind a Good-bye there lurks much of the salutation of another beginning —to me, Development, Continuity, Immortality, Transformation, are the chiefest life-meanings of Nature and Humanity, and are the sine qua non of all facts, and each fact.
Why do folks dwell so fondly on the last words, advice, appearance, of the departing? Those last words are not samples of the best, which involve vitality at its full, and balance, and perfect control and scope. But they are valuable beyond measure to confirm and endorse the varied train, facts, theories and faith of the whole preceding life.
Leaves of Grass :[1891] | ||