School Valedictory, A

The days departed throw a rosy veil
Over the fullness of the days that are;
And sweeter is the light of setting suns,
Though touched wit thoughtful shadows, than high noon
With all its glare outlining common things
In sharp distinctness. So we love the past,
And slight the present till it takes that tone
Of twilight mystery as it steals away.

‘Tis of God’s mercy that our vanishing things
Should wear that misty glory for their crown,
By which they cling about us, and so melt
Into our hearts they cannot pass away,
But live with us forever at their best.

The Last! how long we linger and look back
On any last return of what had grown
Familiar in its beauty, till we lost
Some present measure of its constant worth;
How the heart vibrates to that solemn word!
So are you dearer now, companions dear,
That we shall meet no longer as we met.

We part, we scatter of the wide, wide world,
Perhaps to drift a moment, side by side,
Then vanish into darkness, never more
To meet and mingle in the daily task,
The sometime weary drill, which gathers now
The same sweet rose-light which is over all,
Making your fresh young faces lovelier! —

These very walls that often may have seemed
A prison to winged longings for the fields,
Fold round us now like loving arms that cling
Reluctant to surrender their dear charge.

And you who led us to the rock-bound springs
Of human knowledge; patient, though we erred,
And chiding but in love, we see to-day
The steady sunshine of your souls above
The vanishing cloud of weariness and care,
And our slow hearts leap eager to be just.

If ever wayward mood of ours have set
A pang to sharpen in your souls the sense
Of thankless labor, O may heaven forgive,
And you, as heaven, erase the bitter wrong;
So may this hour of parting seal the pledge
Of endless ties in Memory’s Golden Age!