WHEN I am gone, what alien steps shall tread This flowery garden-close? What alien hands shall pluck the violets sweet, Or gather the rich petals of the rose, When I -- drear thought! -- am dead? When I am gone, toward doubtful darkness led, What voices, false or true, Shall echo round these old, familiar haunts My happiest days of tranquil manhood knew, Ah me! when I am dead? When I am gone, what museful eyes instead Of these dimmed eyes of mine, Beneath yon trellised porch shall mark thro' heaven, On cloudless eves the summer sunsets shine, When I, alas! am dead? When I am gone, and all is done and said, @3One@1 life had wrought below -- 'Mid these fair scenes what other souls shall thrill, In turn, to love and anguish, joy and woe -- Dear Christ! when I am dead? Though I be dead, perchance when Spring has shed Her gentlest influence round -- Here, where love reigned, my ghostly feet may tread The old accustomed paths without a sound, -- Perchance -- when I am dead! Though I be dead, earth's fragrant white and red Here in spring roses met, May to strange spiritual senses bring the balms Of tender memory and divine regret, Yea! even to me -- though dead! Though I be dead, with faded hands and head Laid in unbreathing rest -- Dear cottage roof! thou still mayst lure me back, Among the unconscious living a wan guest, Veiled, as Fate veils the dead: A guest of shadowy frame, ethereal tread, Amongst them, yet apart -- A sombre mystery! in whose bosom throb The faint, slow pulses of its phantom heart, Ah, heaven! not wholly dead! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HER EYES TWIN POOLS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: PAULINE BARRETT by EDGAR LEE MASTERS IN TALL GRASS by CARL SANDBURG EROS by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES FOURTH BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 18 by THOMAS CAMPION SONNET: 146 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE |