Kiss me, and say good-bye;
Good-bye, there is no word to say but this,
Nor any lips left for my lips to kiss,
Nor any tears to shed, when these tears dry;
Kiss me, and say good-bye.
Farewell, be glad, forget;
There is no need to say “forget,” I know,
For youth is youth, and time will have it so,
And though your lips are pale, and your eyes wet,
Farewell, you must forget.
You shall bring home your sheaves,
Many, and heavy, and with blossoms twined
Of memories that go not out of mind;
Let this one sheaf be twined with poppy leaves
When you bring home your sheaves.
In garnered loves of thine,
The ripe good fruit of many hearts and years,
Somewhere let this lie, grey and salt with tears;
It grew too near the sea wind, and the brine
Of life, this love of mine.
This sheaf was spoiled in spring,
And over-long was green, and early sear,
And never gathered gold in the late year
From autumn suns, and moons of harvesting,
But failed in frosts of spring.
Yet was it thine, my sweet,
This love, though weak as young corn withered,
Whereof no man may gather and make bread;
Thine, though it never knew the summer heat;—
Forget not quite, my sweet.
Poem by Andrew Lang
Meaning of the Poem ‘Good Bye’ by Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang’s ‘Good Bye’ is a quiet, sorrowful farewell to a lost or fading love; one marked by resignation, tenderness, and an ache that lingers beneath dignified parting words. The speaker accepts the inevitability of separation, recognising that time, youth, and life will naturally carry the beloved forward, while his own love must remain behind, unfulfilled but enduring.
The poem begins with a plea for a final kiss and goodbye, acknowledging that no other words can soften what must be said, and no other gestures can preserve what is being lost. In the second stanza, the speaker concedes that forgetting is part of moving on, even if it feels impossible in the moment.
Lang uses the image of “sheaves” – the harvest gathered from life’s experiences – as a symbol of future joys and relationships the beloved may carry forward. Yet, he asks that this failed love, represented as a flawed sheaf twined with “poppy leaves” (symbols of sleep and forgetting), be remembered quietly among them. The love, though real, was never allowed to ripen; it “failed in frosts of spring,” never reaching its potential due to premature withering.
The final stanza holds a poignant note: even though the love was fragile, immature, and ultimately unfruitful, it was still deeply and sincerely given. The speaker doesn’t ask to be remembered with bitterness or regret, only that this tender, broken offering not be entirely forgotten.
Ultimately, ‘Good Bye’ is an elegy to a love that bloomed too early and died too soon. It speaks to the pain of letting go with grace, of loving deeply even when love cannot last, and of asking for remembrance, however faint, in a heart that must move on.
