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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IN MEMORIAM by DINAH MARIA MULOCK CRAIK

First Line: HEAVEN REST THEE
Last Line: HEAVEN KEEP THEE!
Subject(s): DEATH; DEAD, THE;

HEAVEN rest thee!
We shall go about today
In our festal garlands gay;
Whatsoever robes we wear
Not a trace of black be there.
Well, what matters? none is seen
On thy daisy covering green,
Or thy pure white pillow, hid
Underneath a cofin lid.
Heaven rest thee!

Heaven take thee! --
Ay, heaven only. Sleeps beneath
One who died a virgin death:
Died so slowly, day by day,
That it scarcely seemed decay,
Till this lonely churchyard kind
Opened, -- and we left behind
Nothing but a little dust; --
Heaven is pitiful and just:
Heaven take thee!

Heaven keep thee:
Nevermore above the ground
Be one relic of thee found:
Lay the turf so smooth, we crave,
None would guess it was a grave,
Save for grass that greener grows,
Or for wind that gentlier blows
All the earth o'er, from this spot
Where thou wert -- and thou art not.
Heaven keep thee!





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