A Farewell

My fairest child, I have no song to give you
No lark could pipe in skies so dull and gray.
Yet, if you will, one quiet hint I´ll leave you,
For every day
I´ll teach you how to sing a clearer carol
Than lark who hails the dawn o´er breezy
down.
To earn yourself a purer poet´s laurel
Than Shakespeare´s crown
Be good, sweet maid, and let who can be clever,
Do noble things, not dream them, all day long
And so make Life, Death, and that vast Forever
One grand, swwet song.

CHARLES KINGSLEY