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.
1862
Related Materials
- A Woman's Voice in Rossetti's "Song"
- The Dead Woman Talks Back: Christina Rossetti's Ironic Intonation of the Dead Fair Maiden
- Set to music and sung by Othmar Plöckinger
Last modified 12 June 2006