IF I SHOULD DIE.

If I should die, how kind you all would grow, 2In that strange hour I would not have one foe. 2There are no words too beautiful to say 2Of one who goes forever more away Across that ebbing tide which has no flow.

With what new lustre my good deeds would glow! If faults were mine, no one would call them so, 2Or speak of me in aught but praise that day, 4If I should die.

Ah, friends! before my listening ear lies low, While I can hear and understand, bestow 2That gentle treatment and fond love, I pray, 2The lustre of whose late though radiant way Would gild my grave with mocking light, I know, 4If I should die.