Classic Poem

When I am dead no graven stone
Thou need'st erect to make it known
That one lies there of whom 'twas said:
His faults were not of heart, but head,
And such as all men should condone.
My sins are mine and mine alone!
Let no man's thoughts be once misled,
Or tastes for eulogy be fed
When I am dead!

Pray, tell the truth: that may atone
For a life of folly like my own,
By warning others not to tread
The path o'er which my feet have bled.
I'd have no " mantles " round me thrown
When I am dead!