Can Love Forget - An 1849 Poem

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.

March 31, 1849. Lincoln Courier 5(3): 1.