Maryland, my Maryland, and other poems/Adieu
ADIEU
Adieu! adieu!
Bright eye of blue,
With ebbless oceans in thy hue;
Unloved, unblest,
I can not rest,
While thou art waving to the West.
His prayer surceased,
The Golden Priest
Hath chanted Masses in the East,
And goon will skim
The river’s rim,
To sing his dying vesper hymn.
I think—I think
If I could sink
Beyond this juggling orbit’s brink,
That I might drown
The Demon’s frown,
Where suns and satellites go down.
Farewell! farewell!
My bonnie belle,
I dungeon what I cannot quell;
Distraction’s slave,
I weep and rave,
While prophets warn me from the grave.
A wretch abhorred,
I broke my sword
Upon the buckler of the Lord;
I feel the shock,
Upon my rock,
While the foul condors ’round me flock.
Good-bye! good-bye!
I can not die
Beneath thy sacramental eye;
When gulf and knoll
Atween us roll,
Wilt thou be patient then, my soul?
Adieu! adieu!
Sad eye of blue;
I’ve wrecked my life within thy hue.
I grieve, I grieve,
And yet I live
To know the future God may give.
I flee the plain,
Accurst by Cain,
To grasp my battle-ax again;
And in the sign
Of Bread and Wine
God the Consoler! I am Thine!