We are Living in a World of Sad Good-Byes

We are living in a world of sad good-byes--
Today's fair dawn has said "Good-bye" to night;
Some ship has set sail under stormy skies;
A rare sunset has faded from my sight;
A full-blown rose has withered and fallen down;
A friend I held dear as life has crossed
My threshold, outward; men of fair renown
Have sunk; a golden girl has loved and lost!

Cheer up, sweet friends, for brighter dawns may burst,
The ship return, and rarer sunsets glow;
The friend come back, the fallen yet be first,
Love wake, again, and rise and overflow;
And if sleep comes, too deep for dreams or waking,
How soon our hearts will nevermore be breaking! 

From Tears and Laughter and Other Poems