FAREWELL, my more than fatherland! <br />Home of my heart and friends, adieu! <br />Lingering beside some foreign strand, <br />How oft shall I remember you! <br />How often, o’er the waters blue, <br />Send back a sigh to those I leave, <br />The loving and beloved few, <br />Who grieve for me,—for whom I grieve! <br /> <br />We part!—no matter how we part, <br />There are some thoughts we utter not, <br />Deep treasured in our inmost heart, <br />Never revealed, and ne’er forgot! <br />Why murmur at the common lot? <br />We part!—I speak not of the pain,— <br />But when shall I each lovely spot <br />And each loved face behold again? <br /> <br />It must be months,—it may be years,— <br />It may—but no!—I will not fill <br />Fond hearts with gloom,—fond eyes with tears, <br />“Curious to shape uncertain ill.” <br />Though humble,—few and far,—yet, still <br />Those hearts and eyes are ever dear; <br />Theirs is the love no time can chill, <br />The truth no chance or change can sear! <br /> <br />All I have seen, and all I see, <br />Only endears them more and more; <br />Friends cool, hopes fade, and hours flee, <br />Affection lives when all is o’er! <br />Farewell, my more than native shore! <br />I do not seek or hope to find, <br />Roam where I will, what I deplore <br />To leave with them and thee behind!<br /><br />Richard Henry Wilde<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-farewell-to-america/
