Good-Bye ! [poem by Philip Durham Lorimer]

[Editor: This poem by Philip Durham Lorimer was published in Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, 1901.]

Good-Bye !

’Tis a word so full of beauty
And so touching to the heart ;
’Tis a word so full of meaning,
That without it who would part ?

Clasping hands in truest friendship,
Lips which tremble with a sigh,
Cease their faltering tones, expressing
All their sweetness in “Good-bye !”

’Tis a word so full of beauty
In our sunshine, in our gloom ;
’Tis a word so constant — near us
From the cradle to the tomb !

’Tis the sweetness of remembrance
As the blossoms droop and die,
For they leave behind, in fading,
All their beauty in “Good-bye !”

Sydney, 1871.

Source:
E. A. Petherick (editor). Songs and Verses by Philip Durham Lorimer: An Australian Bush Poet, William Clowes and Sons, London, 1901, page 100