_You Will Forget Me_

You will forget me: the years are so tender-- They bind up the wounds which we think are so deep; This dream of our youth will fade out as the splendor Fades from the sky, when the sun sinks to sleep: The clouds of forgetfulness, over and over, Will banish the last rosy colors away; And th' fingers of Time will weave garlands to cover The scar which you think is a life-mark to-day.

You will forget me:--will thank me for saying The words which you think are so pointed with pain, Time loves a new lay; and the dirge he is playing Will change for you soon to a livelier strain. I shall pass from your life, I shall pass out forever, And the hours we have spent, will be sunk in the past. Youth buries its dead: grief kills seldom, or never, And forgetfulness covers all sorrows at last.

You will forget me; the one thing you covet Now, above all things will soon seem no prize: And the heart which is not in your keeping, to prove it True or untrue, will lose worth in your eyes. The one drop to-day, which you deem only wanting To make life a joy, will be lost in Time's stream; You will forget; and the ghost that is haunting The aisles of your heart will pass out with the dream.