Littell's Living Age/Volume 131/Issue 1686/Song

by Christina Rossetti

For other versions of this work, see Song ("When I am dead, my dearest").

SONG.

When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad song for me;
Plant 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 or set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply I may forget.

Carlotta Rossetti.