21.
And Thou art Dead, as Young and Fair.
"Heu, quanto minus est cum reliquis versari quam tui meminisse!"
I.
As aught of mortal birth;
And form so soft, and charms so rare,
Too soon returned 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 brook
A moment on that grave to look.
II.
Nor gaze upon the spot;
There flowers or weeds at will may grow,
So I behold 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.
III.
As fervently as thou,
Who didst not change through all the past,
And canst not alter now.
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