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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


AFTER A PARTING by ALICE MEYNELL

Poet Analysis

First Line: FAREWELL HAS LONG BEEN SAID; I HAVE FORGOTTEN THEE
Last Line: THEY DRAW MY LIFE, MY LIFE, OUT OF MY HEART.
Subject(s): ABSENCE; SEPARATION; ISOLATION;

Farewell has long been said; I have forgone thee;
I never name thee even.
But how shall I learn virtues and yet shun thee?
For thou art so near Heaven
That heavenward meditations pause upon thee.

Thou dost beset the path to every shrine;
My trembling thoughts discern
Thy goodness in the good for which I pine;
And if I turn from but one sin, I turn
Unto a smile of thine.

How shall I thrust thee apart
Since all my growth tends to thee night and day -
To thee faith, hope, and art?
Swift are the currents setting all one way;
They draw my life, my life, out of my heart.






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