YOU WILL FORGET ME.

You will forget me. The years are so tender,

They bind up the wounds which we think are so deep;

This dream of our youth will fade out as the splendor

Fades from the skies when the sun sinks to sleep;

The cloud of forgetfulness, over and over

Will banish the last rosy colors away,

And the fingers of time will weave garlands to cover

The scar which you think is a life-mark to-day.

You will forget me. The one boon you covet

Now above all things will soon seem no prize;

And the heart, which you hold not in keeping to prove it

True or untrue, will lose worth in your eyes.

The one drop to-day, that you deem only wanting

To fill your life-cup to the brim, soon will seem

But a valueless mite; and the ghost that is haunting

The aisles of your heart will pass out with the dream.

You will forget me; will thank me for saying

The words which you think are so pointed with pain.

Time loves a new lay; and the dirge he is playing

Will change for you soon to a livelier strain.

I shall pass from your life — I shall pass out forever,

And these hours we have spent will be sunk in the past.

Youth buries its dead; grief kills seldom or never,

And forgetfulness covers all sorrows at last.