Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Rose HawthorneLathrop

1073 Give Me Not Tears

DESPAIR

DEAR, when you see my grave,

Oh, shall you weep?

Ah, no! That were to have

Mistaken care;

But when you see my grave,

I pray you keep

Sunshine of heart that time doth lay me there,

Where veiling mists of dream guard endless sleep.

Though the young life we mourn

That, blooming, dies,—

Ere grief hath made forlorn

This other face,—

Still sadder are the eyes,

The cheeks more worn

Than show the dead, of those who seek love’s grace:

Death is the gentlest of the world’s replies.

JOY

DEAR, when the sun is set

From my life’s air,

And your eyes, newly wet

With tears for me,

Make my sky darker yet,—

Remember where

Your eyes in light laved all my destiny:

Weep not, weep not, since so much love was there!

Remember that through you

My rapture came:

I gained from faith so true

More than I asked,—

For not the half I knew

My need might name,

Until I saw the soul your love unmasked:

Then crave not of the night my vanished flame.