When I Am Dead, My Dearest

 

      When I am dead, my dearest,

         Sing no sad songs for me;

     Plant thou no roses at my head,

         Nor shady cypress tree:

     Be the green grass above me

         With showers and dewdrops wet;

     And if thou wilt, remember,

         And if thou wilt, forget.

     I shall not see the shadows,

         I shall not feel the rain;

     I shall not hear the nightingale

         Sing on, as if in pain:

     And dreaming through the twilight

         That doth not rise nor set,

     Haply I may remember,

         And haply may forget. 

 

Christina Rossetti