Withhold all eulogies when I am dead, All noisy sorrow; Give me the tender word today, instead Of tears tomorrow. Come not with flowers to strew above my breast, And sigh for me there. The hawk or crow may haunt the piny crest; I shall not be there. Speak not my name, when I have passed from earth, In tones of sadness; At thought of me repress no note of mirth, No burst of gladness. Regard me not as altered when removed To the hereafter; Think of me still as loving and as loved With joy and laughter. Delay not, thou whom I have wounded sore, Till thou outlive me To grant the pardon that I here implore, But now forgive me. Pretend not that I merit saintly fame; Let mercy save me; Sufficient for my epitaph the name My mother gave me. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LETHE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SUNSET by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO JOHN BROWN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 5. THE DANCING GIRL by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON TO-MORROW TO FRESH WOODS AND PASTURES NEW' by AMY LOWELL AT NIGHT; SONNET by AMY LOWELL FRANCIS II, KING OF NAPLES; SONNET by AMY LOWELL NORTH WIND TO DUTIFUL BEAST MIDWAY BETWEEN DIAL & FOOT OF GARDEN CLOCK by MARIANNE MOORE |