Forget thee!

Forget thee? If to dream by night and muse on thee by day;

If all the worship deep and wild a poet's heart can pay;

If prayers in absence breathed for thee to Heaven's protecting power;

If winged thoughts that flit to thee a thousand in an hour;

If busy fancy blending thee with all my future lot --

If this thou call'st forgetting, thou, indeed, shalt be forgot!

Forget thee? Bid the forest-birds forget their sweetest tune;

Forget thee? Bid the sea forget to swell beneath the moon;

Bid the thirsty flowers forget to drink the eve's refreshing dew;

Thyself forget thine own dear land, and its mountains wild and blue.

Forget each old familiar face, each long-remember'd spot --

When these things are forgot by thee, then thou shalt be forgot!

Keep, if thou wilt, thy maiden peace, still calm and fancy-free,

For God forbid thy gladsome heart should grow less glad for me;

Yet, while that heart is still unwon, oh! bid not mine to rove,

But let it nurse its humble faith and uncomplaining love;

If these, preserved for patient years, at last avail me not --

Forget me then; but ne'er believe that thou canst be forgot!