Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MEMORY OF THE DEAD, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MEMORY OF THE DEAD, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Forget them not! Though now their name
Last Line: Yet all for heaven!
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Death; Dead, The


FORGET them not! -- though now their name
Be but a mournful sound,
Though by the hearth its utterance claim
A stillness round.

Though for their sakes this earth no more
As it hath been may be,
And shadows, never marked before,
Brood o'er each tree;

And though their image dim the sky,
Yet, yet forget them not!
Nor, where their love and life went by,
Forsake the spot!

They have a breathing influence there,
A charm, not elsewhere found;
Sad -- yet it sanctifies the air,
The stream -- the ground.

Then, though the wind an altered tone
Through the young foliage bear,
Though every flower, of something gone,
A tinge may wear;

Oh! fly it not! -- no fruitless grief
Thus in their presence felt,
A record links to every leaf
There, where they dwelt.

Still trace the path which knew their tread,
Still tend their garden-bower,
And call them back, the holy Dead,
To each lone hour!

The holy Dead! -- oh! blest we are.
That we may name them so,
And to their spirits look afar,
Through all our woe!

Blest, that the things they loved on earth,
As relics we may hold,
Which wakesweet thoughts of parted worth,
By springs untold!

Blest, that a deep and chastening power
Thus o'er our souls is given,
If but to bird, or song, or flower,
Yet all for Heaven!





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