A Farewell
Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea, Thy tribute wave deliver: No more by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea, A rivulet then a river: No where by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. But here will sigh thine alder tree, And here thine aspen shiver; And here by thee will hum the bee, For ever and for ever. A thousand suns will stream on thee, A thousand moons will quiver; But not by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever.
First published in 1842. Not altered since 1843. This poem was dedicated to the brook at Somersby described in the Ode to Memory and referred to so often in In Memoriam. Possibly it may have been written in 1837 when the Tennysons left Somersby.
A Farewell - meaning Summary
Absence Amid Enduring Nature
Tennyson’s short lyric stages a farewell to a riverside place the speaker will no longer visit. The poem contrasts the speaker’s permanent absence with the continuing life of the landscape—trees, bees, and the river’s flow toward the sea. Repetition underscores irrevocable separation and the passage of time, while natural cycles persist indifferent to human departure. The mood is resigned rather than angry or celebratory.
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