by Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888)
Separation
Language: English
Stop! -- not to me, at this bitter departing, Speak of the sure consolations of time! Fresh be the wound, still-renew'd be its smarting, So but thy image endure in its prime. But, if the stedfast commandment of Nature Wills that remembrance should always decay -- If the loved form and the deep-cherish'd feature Must, when unseen, from the soul fade away -- Me let no half-effaced memories cumber! Fled, fled at once, be all vestige of thee! Deep be the darkness and still be the slumber -- Dead be the past and its phantoms to me! Then, when we meet, and thy look strays toward me, Scanning my face and the changes wrought there: Who, let me say, is this stranger regards me, With the grey eyes, and the lovely brown hair?
Authorship:
- by Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888), "Separation", appears in Poems, in Faded Leaves, no. 3, first published 1855 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-02-07
Line count: 16
Word count: 129