Poems (Sharpless)/"I Will Forget Thee!—Yes, in the Grave—for the Dead Remember Not"

by Frances M. Sharpless

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.

When my eye on life is closing,
 When it looks its last on thee,
Then thy star will rise the brighter
 O'er the grave's drear vacancy.

What were life, itself, without thee
 When the friends that round me stand
Smile approval on each action,
 Listen to my least command?—

Then 'twere anguish were we parted,
 But within the sombre gloom
It were worse than death to linger
 With no star to gild the tomb.

He had never known the deepness
 Of immortal love who said
That the grave had no remembrance
 Of the living, for the dead.

I'll remember—well thou knowst—
 While this heart with life shall beat,
But I'll swear it—that I love thee
 When my life deserts her seat.