After the supper and talk after the day is done,
As a friend from friends his final withdrawal prolonging,
Good-bye and Good-bye with emotional lips repeating,
(So hard for his hand to release those hands no more will they
meet,
No more for communion of sorrow and joy, of old and young,
A far-stretching journey awaits him, to return no more,)
Shunning, postponing severance seeking to ward off the last
word ever so little,
Een at the exit-door turning charges superfluous calling back
een as he descends the steps,
Something to eke out a minute additional shadows of nightfall
deepening,
Farewells, messages lessening dimmer the forthgoers visage
and form,
Soon to be lost for aye in the darkness loth, O so loth to de-
part!
Garrulous to the very last.
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