Regret not Me by Thomas Hardy — Read

REGRET not me; / Beneath the sunny tree / I lie uncaring, slumbering peacefully.

Swift as the light / I flew my faery flight; / Ecstatically I moved, and feared no night.

I did not know / That heydays fade and go, / But deemed that what was would be always so.

I skipped at morn / Between the yellowing corn, / Thinking it good and glorious to be born.

I ran at eves / Among the piled-up sheaves, / Dreaming, "I grieve not, therefore nothing grieves."

Now soon will come / The apple, pear, and plum / And hinds will sing, and autumn insects hum.

Again you will fare / To cider-makings rare, / And junketings; but I shall not be there.

Yet gaily sing / Until the pewter ring / Those songs we sang when we went gipsying.

And lightly dance / Some triple-timed romance / In coupled figures, and forget mischance;

And mourn not me / Beneath the yellowing tree; / For I shall mind not, slumbering peacefully.