- Forget thee! If to dream by night,
- And muse on thee all day
- If all the worship, deep and wild,
- A poet's heart can pay
- If prayers in absence, breathed for thee.
- To Heaven's protecting power
- If winged thoughts that flit to thee
- A thousand in an hour
- If busy fancy blending thee
- With all my future lot
- If thou call'st those "forgetting," thou
- Indeed shall be forgot.
- Forget thee! Bid the forest birds
- Forget their sweetest tune;
- Forget thee! Bid the forest birds
- To swell beneath the moon
- Bid the faint evening flower forget
- To drink refreshing dew.
- Thyself forget thine dear own land
- Its mountains white and blue.
- Forget each old and familiar face,
- Each long remembered spot
- When these things are forgot by thee
- Then shalt thou be forgot.
- Keep, if thou wilt, thy maiden peace
- Still calm and fancy free
- For God forbid thy gladsome heart
- Should grow less glad for me;
- Yet while that heart is still unwon,
- Oh! bid not mine to rove
- But let it nurse its humble faith,
- And uncomplaining love.
- If these, preserved patient years,
- At last avail me not
- Forget me then! but ne'er believe,
- That thou can'st be forgot.
History and Legacy of Wild Birds Including Historic Ornithology and Other Topics of Interest
06 November 2013
Can Love Forget - An 1849 Poem
Labels:
poetry