2.
I will not ask where thou liest low,[lower-roman 1]
Nor gaze upon the spot;
There flowers or weeds at will may grow,
So I behold them not:[lower-roman 2]
It is enough for me to prove
That what I loved, and long must love,
Like common earth can rot;[lower-roman 3]
To me there needs no stone to tell,
'Tis Nothing that I loved so well.[lower-roman 4]
3.
Yet did I love thee to the last
As fervently as thou,[lower-roman 5]
Who didst not change through all the past,
And canst not alter now.
The love where Death has set his seal,
Nor age can chill, nor rival steal,[lower-roman 6]
Nor falsehood disavow:[lower-roman 7]
And, what were worse, thou canst not see[lower-roman 8]
Or wrong, or change, or fault in me.[lower-roman 9]
4.
The better days of life were ours;
Variants
- ↑ I will not ask where thou art laid,
Nor look upon the name.—[MS. erased.] - ↑ So I shall know it not.—[MS. erased.]
- ↑ Like common dust can rot.—[MS.]
- ↑ I would not wish to see nor touch.—[MS. erased.]
- ↑ As well as warm as thou.—[MS. erased.]
- ↑ MS. transposes lines 5 and 6 of stanza 3.
- ↑ Nor frailty disavow.—[MS.]
- ↑ Nor canst thou fair and faultless see.—[MS. erased.]
- ↑ Nor wrong, nor change, nor fault in me.—[MS.]