When I Am Dead, My Dearest

Christina Georgina Rossetti

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.

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