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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  781. Song

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Christina Georgina Rossetti. 1830–1894

781. Song

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         5
  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;  10
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,  15
  And haply may forget.