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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


YOUTH. A SONNET SEQUENCE: 'BEAUTY SHE HAD ...' by BERNICE LESBIA KENYON

First Line: REMEMBER NOT MY EYES WHEN I AM DEAD
Last Line: DEATH SET HER FREE, AND GAVE HER LIFE AT LAST.
Subject(s): BEAUTY; DEATH; DEAD, THE;

REMEMBER not my eyes when I am dead,
Nor shining hair, nor slender body's grace;
For though I go in gleaming silk and lace
And bind a strand of gold about my head
It is not thus that you must think of me,—
Not as a picture in a shrinéd place,
Immortal for the beauty of my face
That moves you yet, though I have ceased to be.
Remember rather one who longed to break
From cold perfection learned one time too well;—
Whose thoughts alone had found the way to take
Flight with the wind;—for whom all storms went past
Only in dreams;—till one time it befell
Death set her free, and gave her life at last.



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