Image of Light, Adieu

Image of Light, Adieu - context Summary

Composed 1884, Published Posthumously

Written in 1884 and not printed until 1955, this extremely brief lyric reads as a compact farewell. The speaker addresses an "Image of Light," thanking it for an "interview" and marking a departure with curt phrases—"So long – so short –"—that compress experience and instruction. Calling the light a "Preceptor of the whole" and a "Coeval Cardinal" hints at its role as teacher and equal in time, then requests it to "Impart – Depart –." The poem’s economy makes absence, gratitude, and the ending of a relationship indistinguishable.