Farewell to a beloved child, whose sweet memory will live forever in the poet’s heart.

ADIOS!

My sweet child-love, farewell!
My little tender flower
Who comforted me long and well,
In many a hope-deserted hour,
I bid thee now farewell.

The years shall come and go
And thro’ thy village home,
The rippling streamlet still shall flow,
While far away my footsteps roam,
Who bid thee now farewell.

O sweet, O saintly face,
And innocent grey eyes,
That shone with such pathetic grace,
Wherein such dreamy wisdom lies,
I bid you now farewell.

Flow on, dear life in peace,
In peace and purity,
And all my life I shall not cease,
To hold thee shrined in memory,
Who bid thee now farewell.

Source of the poem: Poésie Schublade, in Ernest Dowson Collected Poems, R. K. R. Thornton with Caroline Dowson (editors), University of Birmingham Press (2003).

Previously published on Agapeta, 2015/01/10.