Farewell
Farewell, Aziz, it was not mine to fold youAgainst my heart for any length of days.I had no loveliness, alas, to hold you,No siren voice, no charm that lovers praise.
Yet, in the midst of grief and desolation,Solace I my despairing soul with this:Once, for my life's eternal consolation,You lent my lips your loveliness to kiss.
Ah, that one night! I think Love's very essenceDistilled itself from out my joy and pain,Like tropical trees, whose fervid inflorescenceGlows, gleams, and dies, never to bloom again.
Often I marvel how I met the morningWith living eyes after that night with you,Ah, how I cursed the wan, white light for dawning,And mourned the paling stars, as each withdrew!
Yet I, even I, who am less than dust before you,Less than the lowest lintel of your door,Was given one breathless midnight, to adore you.Fate, having granted this, can give no more!
Words in this poem
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- desolation n.
- The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation. [F. désolation, L. desolatio.]
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
- despairing a.
- Feeling or expressing despair; hopeless.
- fervid a.
- Very hot; burning; boiling. [L. fervidus, fr. fervere. See Fervent.]
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
- paling n.
- Pales, in general; a fence formed with pales or pickets; a limit; an inclosure.
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Farewell is in the public domain. This text is taken from India's Love Lyrics, Project Gutenberg ebook #8197; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Laurence Hope, Farewell, in India's Love Lyrics (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8197, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hope-india/farewell.html, id L22588.
Form and metre
Farewell is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB youA · daysB · youA · praiseB
- 2 ABAB desolationA · thisB · consolationA · kissB
- 3 ABAB essenceA · painB · inflorescenceA · againB
- 4 -A-A morning · youA · dawning · withdrewA
- 5 ABAB youA · doorB · youA · moreB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Farewell, Aziz, it was not mine to fold you | 11 | ·/˘/······· |
| Against my heart for any length of days. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| I had no loveliness, alas, to hold you, | 11 | ···/˘˘˘/··· |
| No siren voice, no charm that lovers praise. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Yet, in the midst of grief and desolation, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Solace I my despairing soul with this: | 10 | /˘··˘/˘··· |
| Once, for my life's eternal consolation, | 11 | ····˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| You lent my lips your loveliness to kiss. | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Ah, that one night! I think Love's very essence | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Distilled itself from out my joy and pain, | 10 | ˘/˘/······ |
| Like tropical trees, whose fervid inflorescence | 11 | ·/˘··/˘···· |
| Glows, gleams, and dies, never to bloom again. | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| Often I marvel how I met the morning | 11 | /˘·/˘····/˘ |
| With living eyes after that night with you, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Ah, how I cursed the wan, white light for dawning, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And mourned the paling stars, as each withdrew! | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Yet I, even I, who am less than dust before you, | 12 | ··/········· |
| Less than the lowest lintel of your door, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Was given one breathless midnight, to adore you. | 11 | ·/·/˘/··˘/· |
| Fate, having granted this, can give no more! | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.