AND thou art dead as young and fair

    As aught of mortal birth；

    And form so soft and charms so rare

    Too soon return'd to Earth！

    Though Earth received them in her bed

    And o'er the spot the crowd may tread

    In carelessness or mirth

    There is an eye which could not brook¹

    A moment on that grave to look.

    I will not ask where thou liest low

    Nor gaze upon the spot；

    There flowers or weeds at will may grow

    So I behold² them not：

    It is enough for me to prove

    That what I loved and long must love

    Like common earth can rot；

    To me there needs no stone to tell

    'Tis Nothing that I loved so well.

    Yet did I love thee to the last

    As fervently³ as thou

    Who didst not change through all the past

    And canst not alter now.

    The love where Death has set his seal

    Nor age can chill nor rival steal

    Nor falsehood disavow；

    And what were worse thou canst not see

    Or wrong or change or fault in me.

    The better days of life were ours

    The worst can be but mine；

    The sun that cheers the storm that lours

    Shall never more be thine.

    The silence of that dreamless sleep

    I envy now too much to weep；

    Nor need I to repine

    That all those charms have pass'd away

    I might have watch'd through long decay.

    The flower in ripen'd bloom unmatch'd

    Must fall the earliest prey⁴；

    Though by no hand untimely snatch'd.

    The leaves must drop away.

    And yet it were a greater grief

    To watch it withering⁵ leaf by leaf

    Than see it pluck'd to-day；

    Since earthly eye but ill can bear

    To trace the change to foul⁶ from fair.

    I know not if I could have borne

    To see thy beauties fade；

    The night that follow'd such a morn

    Had worn a deeper shade.

    Thy day without a cloud hath pass'd

    And thou wert lovely to the last

    Extinguish'd not decay'd；

    As stars that shoot along the sky

    Shine brightest as they fall from high.

    As once I wept if I could weep

    My tears might well be shed

    To think I was not near to keep

    One vigil o'er thy bed—

    To gaze how fondly！ on thy face

    To fold thee in a faint embrace

    Uphold thy drooping⁷ head

    And show that love however vain

    Nor thou nor I can feel again.

    Yet how much less it were to gain

    Though thou hast left me free

    The loveliest things that still remain

    Than thus remember thee！

    The all of thine that cannot die

    Through dark and dread⁸ eternity⁹

    Returns again to me

    And more thy buried love endears

    Than aught except its living years.

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