Classic Poem

I knew that this must end — at first
I said it would be so —
Nor do I grieve to prove the worst
Of long foreboded woe:
I do not shrink from what I bear,
I only feel what thou must share.

I even smile to hear thee chide
My silence — yet suppress
My once free thoughts, because I hide
My pangs, to make thine less:
Though my heart breaks, I do not dare
To add my own to thy despair.

I muse forever on the past
Although I only mourn ...
O'er what I knew could never last
And know can ne'er return:
And thou who sigh'st because I seem
A dreamer — must not know my dream.

I once believed the great relief
Of my full heart would be ...
In every joy and every grief
To share them all with thee;
But I have learned that there are woes
Which I must feel yet ne'er disclose.

Whate'er they are, it matters not
So they are never known —
By me they cannot be forgot,
But must be mine alone:
They will go with me to the tomb,
But shall not cloud thy brow with gloom.