As you love me, let there be No mourning when I go, -- No tearful eyes, No hopeless sighs, No woe, -- nor even sadness! Indeed I would not have you sad, For I myself shall be full glad, With the high triumphant gladness Of a soul made free Of God's sweet liberty. -- No windows darkened; For my own Will be flung wide, as ne'er before, To catch the radiant inpour Of Love that shall in full atone For all the ills that I have done; And the good things left undone; -- No voices hushed; My own, full-flushed With an immortal hope, will rise In ecstasies of new-born bliss And joyful melodies. Rather, of your sweet courtesy, Rejoice with me At my soul's loosing from captivity. Wish me "Bon voyage!" As you do a friend Whose joyous visit finds its happy end. And bid me both "A Dieu!" And "Au revoir!" Since, though I come no more, I shall be waiting there to greet you, At His Door. And, as the feet of the bearers tread The ways I trod, Think not of me as dead, But rather -- "Happy, thrice happy, he whose course is sped! He has gone home -- to God, His Father!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO A POET, WHO WOULD HAVE ME PRAISE CERTAIN BAD POETS, IMITATORS ... by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS TO THE EARL OF WARWICK ON THE DEATH OF MR. ADDISON by THOMAS TICKELL TO THE VERS LIBRIST WHO USES ONLY THE MINOR KEY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS GRAY MOOD by MARJORIE AKERMAN B. THE CANON OF AUGHRIM by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT A VILLANELLE OF SPRING by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE |