Men pass my grave, and say, “ ’Twere well to sleep,
Like such a one, amid the uncaring dead!”
How should they know the vigils that I keep,
The tears I shed?
Upon the grave, I count with lifeless breath,
Each night, each year, the flowers that bloom and die,
Deeming the leaves, that fall to dreamless death,
More blest than I.
’Twas just last year — I heard two lovers pass
So near, I caught the tender words he said.
To-night the rain-drenched breezes sway the grass
Above his head.
That night full envious of his life was I,
That youth and love should stand at his behest;
To-night, I envy him, that he should lie
At utter rest.