Rosemary and Pansies/Afterwards (When I am dead do not weep)

by Bertram Dobell

For works with similar titles, see Afterwards.

AFTERWARDS

I
When I am dead do not weep,
For death is the least of all ills,
But say—Let him tranquilly sleep
The sleep that all agony stills;
He watched the strange pageant of life
Through many wonderful years;
He has done now with passion and strife,
He has done now with hopes and with fears.

II
Rejoice that I lived if you will,
But oh! for my death never grieve,
For then naught can touch me that's ill,
And no loss can my spirit bereave:
While we live joy is shadowed with fear,
And pleasure is purchased with pain;
Whatever to us is most dear
Fate forbids us to reach or retain.

III
When I am dead make no moan
O'er my unfulfilled hopes of renown,
Nor regret that the seeds I had sown
Never grew, or by storms were struck down;
You may say that I kept to the last
My hate of oppression and wrong;
That to faith in the truth I held fast,
And loved ever the wise, not the strong.

IV
Yet when I am dead you may weep
If you will, a few tears of relief,
Not too bitter, or burning, or deep—
Just a sign of unmurmuring grief:
And then you shall say—Let him rest;
He strove though he did not attain;
He suffered, yet was not unblest:
Unflinching he fought life's campaign.

July 1901