When I Am Dead, My Dearest

When I am dead, my dearest
        Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
        Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
        With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
        And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows,
        I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
        Sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
       That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
        And haply may forget.

Christina Georgina Rossetti