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After the Supper and Talk

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,

E’en at the exit-door turning — charges superfluous calling back —

e’en as he descends the steps,

Something to eke out a minute additional — shadows of nightfall deepening,

Farewells, messages lessening — dimmer the forthgoer’s visage and form,

Soon to be lost for aye in the darkness — loth, O so loth to depart!

Garrulous to the very last.