For me, my friend, no grave-side vigil keep With tears that memory and remorse might fill; Give me your tenderest laughter earth-bound still, And when I die you shall not want to weep. No epitaph for me with virtues deep Punctured in marble pitiless and chill: But when play time is over, if you will, The songs that soothe beloved babes to sleep. No lenten lilies on my breast and brow Be laid when I am silent; roses red, And golden roses bring me here instead, That if you love or bear me I may know; I may not know, nor care, when I am dead Give me your songs, and flowers, and laughter now. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON BURNING A DULL POEM; WRITTEN IN 1729 by JONATHAN SWIFT EFFICIENCY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS A ROW IN AN OMNIBUS BOX; A LEGEND OF THE HAYMARKET by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM YELLOW CLOVER by KATHARINE LEE BATES PSALM 49 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE IRON HEEL by ANNE MILLAY BREMER TO THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION by VALERY YAKOVLEVICH BRYUSOV |