Elegy Before Death by Edna St. Vincent Millay Lyrics

There will be rose and rhododendron
         When you are dead and under ground;
Still will be heard from white syringas
         Heavy with bees, a sunny sound;

Still will the tamaracks be raining
         After the rain has ceased, and still
Will there be robins in the stubble,
         Brown sheep upon the warm green hill.

Spring will not ail nor autumn falter;
         Nothing will know that you are gone,
Saving alone some sullen plough-land
         None but yourself sets foot upon;

Saving the may-weed and the pig-weed
         Nothing will know that you are dead,—
These, and perhaps a useless wagon
         Standing beside some tumbled shed.

Oh, there will pass with your great passing
         Little of beauty not your own,—
Only the light from common water,
         Only the grace from simple stone!