Still My Darling [poem by Agnes Neale]

[Editor: This poem by Agnes Neale was published in Shadows and Sunbeams (1890).]

Still My Darling.

Still my darling, still beloved!
Though the years are passing o’er;
Though the brightness of the past time
Shine around us never more.
Time is passing, life is fleeting.
Ah! how short the days appear;
Month to flying month is added,
Swiftly closes in the year.

Still my darling, still beloved!
When the spring is fair and sweet,
When the summer’s glow of splendor
Autumn’s golden glories meet;
When the winter winds are wailing,
When the storms rage fierce and wild,
Weary hours of grief and sadness
Are by thoughts of thee beguiled.

Still my darling, still beloved!
What though change or absence fall,
What though even cold estrangement
Hang around us like a pall?
Even should thy love desert me —
And the future who can tell? —
Still my darling, my beloved,
Still my heart would love thee well!

Still my darling, still beloved!
At the closing of the day,
When the lamp of life shines faintly,
When the hopes of life decay,
When the shadows of death’s darkness
Fall between this world and me,
Thou, my darling, my beloved
Through eternity shall be!

Source:
Agnes Neale, Shadows and Sunbeams, Adelaide: Burden & Bonython, 1890, pages 60-61

Editor’s notes:
o’er = over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)

Old spelling in the original text:
thee (you)
thou (you)