To Emma

written by


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Since now the hour is come at last,
  When you must quit your anxious lover;
Since now our dream of bliss is past,
  One pang, my girl, and all is over.

Alas! that pang will be severe,
  Which bids us part to meet no more;
Which tears me far from one so dear,
  Departing for a distant shore.

Well! we have pass'd some happy hours,
  And joy will mingle with our tears;
When thinking on these ancient towers,
  We shelter of our infant years;

Where from this Gothic casement's height,
  We view's the lake, the park, the dell,
And still, though tears obstruct our sight,
  We lingering look a last farewell,

O'er fields through which we used to run,
  And spend the hours in childish play;
O'er shades where, when our race was done,
  Reposing on my breast you lay;

Whilst I, admiring, too remiss,
  Forgot to scare the hovering flies,
Yet envied every fly the kiss
  It dared to give your slumbering eyes:

See still the little painted bark,
  In which I row'd you o'er the lake;
See there, high waving o'er the park,
  The elm I clamber'd for your sake.

These times are past — our joys are gone,
  You leave me, leave this happy vale;
These scenes I must retrace alone:
  Without thee what will they avail?

Who can conceive, who has not proved,
  The anguish of a last embrace?
When, torn from all you fondly loved,
  You bid a long adieu to peace.

This is the deepest of our woes,
  For this these tears our cheeks bedew;
This is of love the final close,
  Oh, God! the fondest, last adieu!

© George Gordon Byron