| Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900. |
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| Charles Wolfe. 1791–1823 |
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| 604. To Mary |
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| IF I had thought thou couldst have died, | |
| I might not weep for thee; | |
| But I forgot, when by thy side, | |
| That thou couldst mortal be: | |
| It never through my mind had past | 5 |
| The time would e'er be o'er, | |
| And I on thee should look my last, | |
| And thou shouldst smile no more! | |
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| And still upon that face I look, | |
| And think 'twill smile again; | 10 |
| And still the thought I will not brook, | |
| That I must look in vain. | |
| But when I speak—thou dost not say | |
| What thou ne'er left'st unsaid; | |
| And now I feel, as well I may, | 15 |
| Sweet Mary, thou art dead! | |
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| If thou wouldst stay, e'en as thou art, | |
| All cold and all serene— | |
| I still might press thy silent heart, | |
| And where thy smiles have been. | 20 |
| While e'en thy chill, bleak corse I have, | |
| Thou seemest still mine own; | |
| But there—I lay thee in thy grave, | |
| And I am now alone! | |
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| I do not think, where'er thou art, | 25 |
| Thou hast forgotten me; | |
| And I, perhaps, may soothe this heart | |
| In thinking too of thee: | |
| Yet there was round thee such a dawn | |
| Of light ne'er seen before, | 30 |
| As fancy never could have drawn, | |
| And never can restore! | |
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