Classic Poem

When our delight is desolate,
And hope is overthrown;
And when the heart must bear the weight
Of its own love alone;

And when the soul, whose thoughts are deep,
Must guard them unrevealed,
And feel that it is full, but keep
That fullness calm and sealed;

When love's long glance is dark with pain —
With none to meet or cheer;
And words of woe are wild in vain
For those who cannot hear;

When earth is dark and memory
Pale in the heaven above, —
The heart can bear to lose its joy,
But not to cease to love.

But what shall guide the choice within,
Of guilt or agony, —
When to remember is to sin,
And to forget — to die!