Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

John Addington Symonds 1840–93

Farewell

Symonds

IT is buried and done with,

The love that we knew:

Those cobwebs we spun with

Are beaded with dew.

I lov’d thee; I leave thee:

To love thee was pain:

I dare not believe thee,

To love thee again.

Like spectres unshriven

Are the years that I lost;

To thee they were given

Without count of cost.

I cannot revive them

By penance or prayer:

Hell’s tempest must drive them

Through turbulent air.

Farewell, and forget me;

For I too am free

From the shame that beset me,

The sorrow of thee.