Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti

Charles Kingsley (1819–1875)

A Farewell

MY fairest child, I have no song to give you;

No lark could pipe to skies so dull and gray:

Yet, ere we part, one lesson I can leave you

For every day.

Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;

Do noble things, not dream them, all day long;

And so make life, death, and that vast forever

One grand, sweet song.