Classic Poem

A PLACE in thy memory, Dearest!
—Is all that I claim:
To pause and look back when thou hearest
—The sound of my name.
Another may woo thee, nearer;
—Another may win and wear:
I care not though he be dearer,
—If I am remembered there.

Remember me, not as a lover
—Whose hope was crossed,
Whose bosom can never recover
—The light it hath lost!
As the young bride remembers the mother
—She loves, though she never may see,
As a sister remembers a brother,
—O Dearest, remember me!

Could I be thy true lover, Dearest!
—Couldst thou smile on me,
I would be the fondest and nearest
—That ever loved thee:
But a cloud on my pathway is glooming
—That never must burst upon thine;
And heaven, that made thee all blooming,
—Ne'er made thee to wither on mine.

Remember me then! O remember
—My calm light love!
Though bleak as the blasts of November
—My life may prove.
That life will, though lonely, be sweet
—If its brightest enjoyment should be
A smile and kind word when we meet,
—And a place in thy memory.