Page:Poems Sharpless.djvu/15

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.

9