Goodbye: The last of all last words spoken

Good-bye

by Walter de la Mare

The last of last words spoken is, Good-bye—

The last dismantled flower in the weed-grown hedge,

The last thin rumor of a feeble bell far ringing,

The last blind rat to spurn the mildewed rye.

A hardening darkness glasses the haunted eye,

Shines into nothing the watcher’s burnt-out candle,

Wreathes into scentless nothing the wasting incense.

Faints in the outer silence the hunting cry.

Love of its muted music breathes no sigh,

Thought in her ivory tower gropes in her spinning.

Toss on in vain the whispering trees of Eden,

Last of all last words spoken is Good-bye.

A vivid picture, the fragile remnants of our existence.

Poignant, it captures the weight of those final words...the ones that hang in the air like a fragile thread, connecting us to what’s slipping away. We all share a glimpse of this beautiful poem within us. The plucked flower, the distant bell, the rat in the field...all fading away. And that darkness, creeping in, leaving us with emptiness. Experiencing a farewell that lingered. Perhaps it was a whispered goodbye, a parting glance, or even the echo of footsteps down an empty hallway. Those moments stay with us, don’t they? A delicate reflection on partings and the ephemeral nature of existence.

Transience and Impermanence comes with the fleeting moments that slip through our fingers like sand. The dismantled flower, et al. It’s as if De la Mare invites us to hold these fragments of existence gently, knowing they’ll soon vanish.

Loneliness and Solitude brings the imagery of the “watcher’s burnt-out candle” evoking solitude. There’s a sense of someone left behind, perhaps waiting for a return that won’t happen. The quietness of the scene amplifies the ache of farewell.

Finality and Closure...“Good-bye” is the ultimate farewell. It’s the closing chapter, the last word spoken. That moment when we realize something has irrevocably ended. We’re left with melancholy echoes and memories.

Sensory details—scent, sound, sight—immerses us in the scene. The scentless incense, the distant bell ringing—it’s as if we’re standing there, feeling the chill of twilight.

Don't fight against goodbyes; accept them. There’s a quiet resignation, a recognition that farewells are part of life’s rhythm. It’s both melancholic and serene.

Have you ever experienced a poignant goodbye in your own life? Maybe a departure that left you with a bittersweet ache? Or perhaps you’ve encountered a similar theme in another work of literature?

A Dream Within a Dream

By Edgar Allan Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow —

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar

Of a surf-tormented shore,

And I hold within my hand

Grains of the golden sand —

How few! yet how they creep

Through my fingers to the deep,

While I weep — while I weep!

O God! Can I not grasp

…

THE SILENCE OF GOOD-BYE...