Come Away

Come away!--the child, where flowers are springing
Round its footsteps on the mountain-slope,
Hears a glad voice from the upland singing,
Like the skylark’s with its tone of hope:
Come away!

Bounding on, with sunny lands before him,
All the wealth of glowing life outspread,
Ere the shadow of a cloud comes o’er him,
By that strain the youth in joy is led:
Come away!

Slowly, sadly, heavy change is falling
O’er the sweetness of the voice within;
Yet its tones, on restless manhood calling,
Urge the hunter still to chase, to win:
Come away!

Come away!--the heart at last forsaken,
Smile by smile, hath proved each hope untrue;
Yet a breath can still those words awaken,
Though to other shores far hence they woo:
Come away!

In the light leaves, in the reed’s faint sighing,
In the low, sweet sounds of early spring,
Still their music wanders--till the dying
Hears them pass, as on a spirit’s wing:
Come away!