A Farewell

By Alfred Lord Tennyson

Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea,

    Thy tribute wave deliver:

No more by thee my steps shall be,

    For ever and for ever.

Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea,

    A rivulet then a river:

Nowhere by thee my steps shall be

    For ever and for ever.

But here will sigh thine alder tree

    And here thine aspen shiver;

And here by thee will hum the bee,

    For ever and for ever.

A thousand suns will stream on thee,

    A thousand moons will quiver;

But not by thee my steps shall be,

    For ever and for ever.