And thou art dead,as young and fair

• And thou art dead, as young and fair 
• As aught of mortal birth; 
• And form so soft, and charms so rare, 
• Too soon return'd to Earth! 
• Though Earth receiv'd them in her bed, 
• And o'er the spot the crowd may tread 
• In carelessness or mirth, 
• There is an eye which could not brook 
• A moment on that grave to look. 
• 
  
• I will not ask where thou liest low, 
• Nor gaze upon the spot; 
• There flowers or weeds at will may grow, 
• So I behold them not: 
• It is enough for me to prove 
• That what I lov'd, and long must love, 
• Like common earth can rot; 
• To me there needs no stone to tell, 
• 'T is Nothing that I lov'd so well. 
• 
  
• Yet did I love thee to the last 
• As fervently as thou, 
• Who didst not change through all the past, 
• And canst not alter now. 
• The love where Death has set his seal, 
• Nor age can chill, nor rival steal, 
• Nor falsehood disavow: 
• And, what were worse, thou canst not see
• Or wrong, or change, or fault in me. 
• 
  
• The better days of life were ours; 
• The worst can be but mine: 
• The sun that cheers, the storm that lowers, 
• Shall never more be thine. 
• The silence of that dreamless sleep 
• I envy now too much to weep; 
• Nor need I to repine 
• That all those charms have pass'd away, 
• I might have watch'd through long decay. 
• 
  
• The flower in ripen'd bloom unmatch'd 
• Must fall the earliest prey; 
• Though by no hand untimely snatch'd, 
• The leaves must drop away: 
• And yet it were a greater grief 
• To watch it withering, leaf by leaf, 
• Than see it pluck'd to-day; 
• Since earthly eye but ill can bear 
• To trace the change to foul from fair. 
• 
  
• I know not if I could have borne 
• To see thy beauties fade; 
• The night that follow'd such a morn 
• Had worn a deeper shade: 
• Thy day without a cloud hath pass'd, 
• And thou wert lovely to the last, 
• Extinguish'd, not decay'd; 
• As stars that shoot along the sky 
• Shine brightest as they fall from high. 
• 
  
• As once I wept, if I could weep, 
• My tears might well be shed, 
• To think I was not near to keep 
• One vigil o'er thy bed; 
• To gaze, how fondly! on thy face, 
• To fold thee in a faint embrace, 
• Uphold thy drooping head; 
• And show that love, however vain, 
• Nor thou nor I can feel again. 
• 
  
• Yet how much less it were to gain, 
• Though thou hast left me free, 
• The loveliest things that still remain, 
• Than thus remember thee! 
• The all of thine that cannot die 
• Through dark and dread Eternity 
• Returns again to me, 
• And more thy buried love endears 
• Than aught except its living years. 
• And thou art dead, as young and fair 
• As aught of mortal birth; 
• And form so soft, and charms so rare, 
• Too soon return'd to Earth! 
• Though Earth receiv'd them in her bed, 
• And o'er the spot the crowd may tread 
• In carelessness or mirth, 
• There is an eye which could not brook 
• A moment on that grave to look. 
• 
  
• I will not ask where thou liest low, 
• Nor gaze upon the spot; 
• There flowers or weeds at will may grow, 
• So I behold them not: 
• It is enough for me to prove 
• That what I lov'd, and long must love, 
• Like common earth can rot; 
• To me there needs no stone to tell, 
• 'T is Nothing that I lov'd so well. 
• 
  
• Yet did I love thee to the last 
• As fervently as thou, 
• Who didst not change through all the past, 
• And canst not alter now. 
• The love where Death has set his seal, 
• Nor age can chill, nor rival steal, 
• Nor falsehood disavow: 
• And, what were worse, thou canst not see
• Or wrong, or change, or fault in me. 
• 
  
• The better days of life were ours; 
• The worst can be but mine: 
• The sun that cheers, the storm that lowers, 
• Shall never more be thine. 
• The silence of that dreamless sleep 
• I envy now too much to weep; 
• Nor need I to repine 
• That all those charms have pass'd away, 
• I might have watch'd through long decay. 
• 
  
• The flower in ripen'd bloom unmatch'd 
• Must fall the earliest prey; 
• Though by no hand untimely snatch'd, 
• The leaves must drop away: 
• And yet it were a greater grief 
• To watch it withering, leaf by leaf, 
• Than see it pluck'd to-day; 
• Since earthly eye but ill can bear 
• To trace the change to foul from fair. 
• 
  
• I know not if I could have borne 
• To see thy beauties fade; 
• The night that follow'd such a morn 
• Had worn a deeper shade: 
• Thy day without a cloud hath pass'd, 
• And thou wert lovely to the last, 
• Extinguish'd, not decay'd; 
• As stars that shoot along the sky 
• Shine brightest as they fall from high. 
• 
  
• As once I wept, if I could weep, 
• My tears might well be shed, 
• To think I was not near to keep 
• One vigil o'er thy bed; 
• To gaze, how fondly! on thy face, 
• To fold thee in a faint embrace, 
• Uphold thy drooping head; 
• And show that love, however vain, 
• Nor thou nor I can feel again. 
• 
  
• Yet how much less it were to gain, 
• Though thou hast left me free, 
• The loveliest things that still remain, 
• Than thus remember thee! 
• The all of thine that cannot die 
• Through dark and dread Eternity 
• Returns again to me, 
• And more thy buried love endears 
• Than aught except its living years.