Fare thee weel my best and dearest

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Separation from the Beloved is a form of exile, from the one rather than the many. The Solitary Goose is still surrounded by the flock, but still its solitude is complete.

Ae Fond Kiss was written in response to the exile of the Beloved, which in that case, and in those days in general, may be assumed to be forever. It raises another question of time: the fact that it moves in only one direction:

Had we never lov'd sae kindly,
Had we never lov'd sae blindly,
Never met - or never parted --
We had ne'er been broken-hearted.

The sorrow is a direct consequence of the love. The two are inseparable. If the Beloved does not leave now, she will leave later. Or the Lover will leave her. The greatest exile is death, and every separation is a small death.