Poems (Sharpless)/"I Will Forget Thee!—Yes, in the Grave—for the Dead Remember Not"
I will forget thee!—yes, in the grave—for the dead remember not"
I will forget thee in the silence Of the solitary tomb;I will forget thee then forever, Memory lightens not its gloom—
I will forget thee when thy last kiss Freezes on my death-damped brow;For the dead—the dead,—remember Not ev'n one so dear as thou.
Then the link that binds us tightly Shall be severed, evermore;Thou wilt linger on without me, Alone I pass the mystic shore.
Not e'en memory will recall thee; Thou, thou must be all forgot;Thou wilt weep with sorrow for me, But the dead remember not.
I'll forget thee!! oh! 'tis anguish That this heart must die to thee—I can never more forget thee; Death cannot kill memory.
No! it cannot—power never Can desert the active will;And hereafter shall I prove it That the dead remember still.
When my eye on life is closing, When it looks its last on thee,Then thy star will rise the brighter O'er the grave's drear vacancy.
What were life, itself, without thee When the friends that round me standSmile approval on each action, Listen to my least command?—
Then 'twere anguish were we parted, But within the sombre gloomIt were worse than death to linger With no star to gild the tomb.
He had never known the deepness Of immortal love who saidThat the grave had no remembrance Of the living, for the dead.
I'll remember—well thou knowst— While this heart with life shall beat,But I'll swear it—that I love thee When my life deserts her seat.