LINES FOR A GRAVESTONE

      Here the many lives I led,
      All my selves, are lying dead:
      All they journeyed far to find
      Strawed by the dispersing wind:
      You that were my lovers true,
      That is neither sad nor new!

      Naught that I have been or planned
      Sails the seas nor walks the land:
      That is not a cause for woe
      Where the careless planets go!
      Naught that I have dreamed or done
      Casts a shadow on the sun:
      Not for that shall any Spring
      Fail of song or swallow's wing!

      Neither change nor sorrow stays
      The bright processional of days --
      When the hearts that grieved die, too,
      Where is then the grief they knew?

      Speed, I bid you, speed the earth
      Onward with a shout of mirth,
      Fill your eager eyes with light,
      Put my face and memory
      Out of mind and out of sight.
      Nothing I have caused or done,
      But this gravestone, meets the sun:
      Friends, a great simplicity
      Comes at last to you and me!

          -- The Almost Perfect State, p212