We Parted in Sadness

We parted in sadness, but spoke not of parting;
We talk'd not of hopes that we both must resign,
I saw not her eyes, and but one tear-drop starting,
Fell down on her hand as it trembled in mine:
Each felt that the past we could never recover,
Each felt that the future no hope could restore;
She shudder'd at wringing the heart of her lover,
I dared not to say I must meet her no more.
Long years have gone by, and the spring-time smiles ever
As o'er our young loves it first smiled in their birth.
Long years have gone by, yet that parting, O! never
Can it be forgotten by either on earth.
The note of each wild bird that carols toward heaven,
Must tell her of swift-winged hopes that were mine,
And the dew that steals over each blossom at even,
Tells me of the tear-drop that wept their decline.