The Tryst

I.

I went, alone, to the old familiar place
Where we often met,--
When the twilight soften'd thy bright and radiant face
And the sun had set.
All things around seem'd whispering of the past,
With thine image blent--
Even the changeful spray which the torrent cast
As it downward went!
I stood and gazed with a sad and heavy eye
On the waterfall--
And with a shouting voice of agony
On thy name did call!

II.

With a yearning hope, from my wrung and aching heart
I call'd on thee--
And the lonely echoes from the rocks above
They answer'd me!
Glad and familiar as a household word
Was that cherish'd name
But in that grieving hour, faintly heard,
'T was not the same!
Solemn and sad, with a distant knelling cry,
On my heart it fell--
'T was as if the word 'Welcome' had been answer'd by
The word 'FAREWELL!'