Give Me Not Tears

Despair dear, when you see my grave, Oh, shall you weep? Ah, no! That were to have Mistaken care; But when you see my grave, I pray you keep Sunshine of heart that time doth lay me there, Where veiling mists of dream guard endless sleep. Though the young life we mourn That, blooming, dies,— Ere grief hath made forlorn This other face,— Still sadder are the eyes, The cheeks more worn Than show the dead, of those who seek love’s grace: Death is the gentlest of the world’s replies. JOY DEAR, when the sun is set From my life’s air, And your eyes, newly wet With tears for me, Make my sky darker yet,— Remember where Your eyes in light laved all my destiny: Weep not, weep not, since so much love was there! Remember that through you My rapture came: I gained from faith so true More than I asked,— For not the half I knew My need might name, Until I saw the soul your love unmasked: Then crave not of the night my vanished flame.

Collection: 
English
Rose Hawthorne Lathrop

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