In Flanders Fields and Other Poems

<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"></SPAN></p> <br/> <h2> Penance </h2> <p>My lover died a century ago,<br/> Her dear heart stricken by my sland'rous breath,<br/> Wherefore the Gods forbade that I should know<br/> The peace of death.<br/> <br/> Men pass my grave, and say, "'Twere well to sleep,<br/> Like such an one, amid the uncaring dead!"<br/> How should they know the vigils that I keep,<br/> The tears I shed?<br/> <br/> Upon the grave, I count with lifeless breath,<br/> Each night, each year, the flowers that bloom and die,<br/> Deeming the leaves, that fall to dreamless death,<br/> More blest than I.<br/> <br/> 'Twas just last year &mdash; I heard two lovers pass<br/> So near, I caught the tender words he said:<br/> To-night the rain-drenched breezes sway the grass<br/> Above his head.<br/> <br/> That night full envious of his life was I,<br/> That youth and love should stand at his behest;<br/> To-night, I envy him, that he should lie<br/> At utter rest.<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />