Christina Rossetti
Remember
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
* * *
Remember (by Christina Rossetti)
14 Sunday Dec 2008
Posted in 1800s, British, Rossetti (Christina), Writing
This is a nice piece . I’ve not read much of Rossetti’s work.. But it makes me think poet’s are a sorry lot… I think many of them have become poets solely to work thru all the broken relationships they had to deal with. Become poets by default…I guess I am very cynical tonight… it would put me in the same category.. ….forgetting and smiling is the hard part.
I LOVE Christina Rossetti! I say again: Excellent taste, sir!W&B, H
I love how this poems ties up at the end. I’ve read sentiments like this before. Seems like this was an original!
For all of us who are FORGOTTEN I copy a few lines of a poem of a poet friend of mine. I hope he doesn’t mind…”The clouds are high and moving fastThe woods across the road stand tall,but they’re as naked as the night I last saw you.The road from here to where you stayseems so long and far away….. It has been so long since the night I last saw you.I am going to fly up over the roads and leave winter for a while.It has been too long since the night I last saw you.From “The Road From Here to Where You Stay” by Thomas Kemp. (a fascinating self published book sold on Amazon.com)
At first I was going to say that wasn’t the case with me – that I was a poet before I every had a girlfriend, wife etc. – when I was but a child. But then I started to think of “relationship” in broader terms and began to think you may be right. I suppose my earliest poetry was a means of sorting out other relationships – with the “Heavenly Father” I thought existed, with the biological father I knew existed but had never met, with my classmates at school. I’m tired of feeling cynical. I used to never be so.
Thank you, Heather. I’ve been meaning to include some of her work here – and “Remember” is one of my favorites.
That’s a beauty…. I like that a lot… thanks for sharing. Something I could see myself trying to write… actually what I was trying to do with the blind review poem but failed. Because what I attempted wasn’t “me”… rewrite is better…I like when you share hidden treasures of poets I’ve not heard or read before…Like Thomas Kemp.. will have to put him on the proverbial “yard long” list….:-)
Thank you, Nikki! I’m not certain, but I have to believe this poem was the inspiration for one of my favorite Cure songs, “Treasure.”Studio version:Live Version (Adrenaline Village in London – May 7, 1996)
Thank you, Helen. I’ve heard you speak of Mr. Kemp before, but I’m only vaguely familiar with his work. Remember – just because one feels forgotten doesn’t mean one is.