Gerald Griffin

A Place in Thy Memory

A Place in thy memory, Dearest!  
 Is all that I claim:  
To pause and look back when thou hearest  
 The sound of my name.  
Another may woo thee, nearer;
 Another may win and wear;  
I care not though he be dearer,  
 If I am remember'd there.  
 
Remember me, not as a lover  
 Whose hope was cross'd,
Whose bosom can never recover  
 The light it hath lost!  
As the young bride remembers the mother  
 She loves, though she never may see,  
As a sister remembers a brother,
 O Dearest, remember me!  
 
Could I be thy true lover, Dearest!  
 Couldst thou smile on me,  
I would be the fondest and dearest  
 That ever lov'd thee:
But a cloud on my pathway is glooming  
 That never must burst upon thine;  
And heaven, that made thee all blooming,  
 Ne'er made thee to wither on mine.  
 
Remember me then! O remember
 My calm light love,  
Though bleak as the blasts of November  
 My life may prove!  
That life will, though lonely, be sweet  
 If its brightest enjoyment should be  
A smile and kind word when we meet  
 And a place in thy memory.