“My Farewell” by Danil Rudoy is a 2010 poem from Love Is Poetry. Five quatrains turn poetic ambition, disappointment and the silence of the muses into a compact leave-taking.
My Farewell
I dreamt to write as those whose phrases
Are imitated by the rest.
My feather now divinely blazes
But those who read me fail the test.
I have become what I had wanted –
To sigh more sadly than before;
My sky is just as low and slanted
As when I still desired more.
I praised my muses – they were laughing
At my attempts to win their love;
I gave them all – they gave me nothing
And threw me down from far above.
You think it’s bad to leave so early?
You are mistaken, I’m afraid.
When your today is ever surly,
You’ll wish tomorrow to evade.
The worst of dreams has almost ended,
Soon I will hear the tolling bell.
I’ve left all that I have intended,
It’s time to leave you my farewell.
March 11th, 2010
Publication
“My Farewell” appears in Love Is Poetry: Rhyming Poems About Love Life, in The City Dark.
Ambition and departure
The opening measures the speaker against writers whose phrases become models for others. Recognition brings no release: the sky remains low, the muses withhold love, and the final bell turns literary frustration into an image of departure. The last line makes the title itself the speaker’s final gift.
Critical reading
A detailed critical reading of “My Farewell” on Prose & Poetry follows the poem’s literary ambition, muses, creative exhaustion, five-quatrain form, tolling bell and closing act of departure.
Text and citation
Copyright © Danil Rudoy. The poem is published here as the author’s canonical text. Short excerpts may be quoted for criticism, scholarship, teaching and literary discussion with attribution to Danil Rudoy and a link to this page. Full reproduction requires separate permission.