O, lest the world should task you to recite What merit lived in me, that you should love After my death, dear love, forget me quite, For you in me can nothing worthy prove; Unless you would devise some virtuous lie, To do more for me than mine own desert, And hang more praise upon deceased I Than niggard truth would willingly impart: O, lest your true love may seem false in this, That you for love speak well of me untrue, My name be buried where my body is, And live no more to shame nor me nor you. For I am shamed by that which I bring forth, And so should you, to love things nothing worth. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONG FOR THE FIRST OF THE MONTH by DOROTHY PARKER SHILOH; A REQUIEM by HERMAN MELVILLE PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 78. AL-BARR by EDWIN ARNOLD THE GLADNESS OF NATURE by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT BROADWAY by WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER TO A YOUNG LADY ON HER RECOVERY FROM A FEVER by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |