155 Alas!

SINCE, if you stood by my side to-day,

Only our hands could meet,

What matter that half the weary world

Lies between our feet;

That I am here by the lonesome sea,

You by the pleasant Rhine?—

Our hearts were just as far apart

If I held your hand in mine!

Therefore, with never a backward glance,

I leave the past behind;

And standing here by the sea alone,

I give it to the wind.

I give it all to the cruel wind,

And I have no word to say;

Yet, alas! to be as we have been,

And to be as we are to-day!