FORGIVE and forget! why the world would be lonely, The garden a wilderness left to deform; If the flowers but remember'd the chilling windsonly, And the fields gave no verdure for fear of the storm Oh, still in thy loveliness emblem the flower, Give the fragrance of feeling to sweeten life's way; And prolong not again the brief cloud of an hour, With tears that but darken the rest of the day! Forgive and forget! there's no breast so unfeeling But some gentle thoughts of affection there live; And the best of us all require something concealing, Some heart that with smiles can forget and forgive! Then away with the cloud from those beautiful eyes, That brow was no home for such frowns to have met; Oh, how could our spirits e'er hope for the skies, If Heaven refused to Forgive and Forget. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS by HENRY GLASSFORD BELL AULD LANG SYNE by ROBERT BURNS O SLEEP, MY BABE! by SARA COLERIDGE THE TRUTH by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES BOSTON HYMN; READ IN MUSIC HALL, JANUARY 1, 1863 by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 101. THE ONE HOPE by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE by ALEXANDER ANDERSON |