The To-be-forgotten
I I heard a small sad sound, And stood awhile among the tombs around: "Wherefore, old friends," said I, "are you distrest, Now, screened from life's unrest?"II —"O not at being here; But that our future second death is near; When, with the living, memory of us numbs, And blank oblivion comes!
II "These, our sped ancestry, Lie here embraced by deeper death than we; Nor shape nor thought of theirs can you descry With keenest backward eye.
IV "They count as quite forgot; They are as men who have existed not; Theirs is a loss past loss of fitful breath; It is the second death.
V "We here, as yet, each day Are blest with dear recall; as yet, can say We hold in some soul loved continuance Of shape and voice and glance.
VI "But what has been will be — First memory, then oblivion's swallowing sea; Like men foregone, shall we merge into those Whose story no one knows.
II "For which of us could hope To show in life that world-awakening scope Granted the few whose memory none lets die, But all men magnify?
II "We were but Fortune's sport; Things true, things lovely, things of good report We neither shunned nor sought… We see our bourne, And seeing it we mourn."Composition date is unknown - the above date represents the first publication date.
The lyrical form of this poem is aabb.2. among: \
Thomas Hardy
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