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<h2>Good-Bye To Work</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> GOOD-BYE to work, I say, and straight The pain of having such to say Puts coward touches on my face, And leaves me strangely old and gray. </div> <div class="stanza"> Why not? We deem it not amiss Beside the coffin and the pall To let our loss fill all our thought, To let our tears like raindrops fall. </div> <div class="stanza"> And when I stand and voice to-day The thought of my reluctant heart, Unclasp your bands and go your way O work, ’tis time for us to part!{193} </div> <div class="stanza"> I say good-bye to more than friend, A comrade staunch, and tried and true, Who linked his fate with that of mine, And paced with me the dull year through. </div> <div class="stanza"> To work, the one enduring thing Born of my vast desire for good, And nourished by each grand resolve That swept my being like a flood. </div> <div class="stanza"> To work, the gracious thing, and strong, That found the welcome of a bride When life was in its green, glad spring, The coming years outstretching wide. </div> <div class="stanza"> When, not as laggard to his task, But as a lover warm and true, I held it close in my embrace, And felt its greatness thrill me through. </div> <div class="stanza"> O work! if time had passed us by And left us youth, and youth’s desires, What heights—nay never soul of man Mounts up so high as it aspires. </div> <div class="stanza"> The years—harsh things that steal the dew From all that’s fair—disdained to show Such mercy towards our purpose strong, To learn untouched its tender glow.{194} </div> <div class="stanza"> Not always kind, not often fair, Since hearts so rarely constant prove What wonder that my fervor passed, That dulled grew the sharp edge of love? </div> <div class="stanza"> When eyes entreating met my own, Between would come your changeless face, Till, thwarted, I would feel to cry, O work, release me for a space! </div> <div class="stanza"> But what man putting the last kiss On lips once loved recalls to mind One slight defect, the haughty look The thoughtless word, the act unkind. </div> <div class="stanza"> But lets the mem’ry of each grace, Each sweetness, each light tender trick Throng to his heart, feel at its strings, Until the tears fall hot and thick. </div> <div class="stanza"> So work, I find since you and I May walk together nevermore, I hold you dear enough to wish That we might live the dead years o’er. </div> <div class="stanza"> Good-bye my work! and straight the pain Of having such a thing to say, Prints coward touches on my face, And leaves me strangely old and gray. </div> </div></div> {195} <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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