I fain would go

Away from carking care,
From passion and despair,
From hopes that but delude,
And blasts that are too rude,—
From friendships that betray,
And joys that pass away,
And love that turns to hate
In hearts left desolate,
I fain would go.

From weary days and nights,
And ghosts of lost delights,—
Fair phantoms of dead days,
That wander through old ways,—
From parting's bitter pain,
And meeting's transient gain,
And death that mocks us so,
With glad life's overthrow,—
I fain would go,

To some fair land and far,
Where all my lost ones are,
Where smiles shall bloom anew,
And friendship shall be true,
Where falls no weary night,
Since God Himself is light,—
Across the soundless sea
To that far land, and free,
I fain would go.