“We parted in silence”

Louisa Macartney Crawford (1790–1858)

WE parted in silence, we parted by night,

On the banks of that lonely river;

Where the fragrant limes their boughs unite,

We met—and we parted forever!

The night-bird sung, and the stars above

Told many a touching story,

Of friends long passed to the kingdom of love,

Where the soul wears its mantle of glory.

We parted in silence,—our cheeks were wet

With the tears that were past controlling;

We vowed we would never, no, never forget,

And those vows at the time were consoling;

But those lips that echoed the sounds of mine

Are as cold as that lonely river;

And that eye, that beautiful spirit’s shrine,

Has shrouded its fires forever.

And now on the midnight sky I look,

And my heart grows full of weeping;

Each star is to me a sealèd book,

Some tale of that loved one keeping.

We parted in silence,—we parted in tears,

On the banks of that lonely river:

But the odor and bloom of those bygone years

Shall hang o’er its waters forever.