A man is being torn from his Scottish homeland, and the poem catches him in the middle of wrenching goodbyes. He loves its bleak, familiar landscape more than any sunny tropics, but “ruin and disgrace” force him to flee — for Jean’s sake. One by one, he speaks to those he’s leaving: a mother’s blessing, a brother’s sigh, a sister’s tear, the child Bess who loses his fatherly care, and a bosom friend he begs to watch over Jean. At the centre is his Jean, weeping and refusing to accept the parting. He must go, and his anguish spills out in plain, tender language. In the final lines, he turns to the sea wind that will carry him away, and his voice fills with a hollow certainty: “I’ll never see thee more!” The whole poem feels like a private, desperate moment, heavy with love and the ache of permanent exile. The mood is sorrowful, intimate, and utterly without hope of return.
128. The Farewell — Summary
FAREWELL, old Scotia’s bleak domains, Far dearer than the torrid plains, Where rich ananas blow! Farewell, a mother’s blessing dear! A borther’s sigh! a sister’s tear! My Jean’s heart-rending throe! Farewell, my Bess! tho’ thou’rt bereft Of my paternal care. A faithful brother I have left, My part in him thou’lt share! Adieu, too, to you too, My Smith, my bosom frien’; When kindly you mind me, O then befriend my Jean!
What bursting anguish tears my heart; From thee, my Jeany, must I part! Thou, weeping, answ’rest—“No!” Alas! misfortune stares my face, And points to ruin and disgrace, I for thy sake must go! Thee, Hamilton, and Aiken dear, A grateful, warm adieu: I, with a much-indebted tear, Shall still remember you! All hail then, the gale then, Wafts me from thee, dear shore! It rustles, and whistles I’ll never see thee more!