If You Would Please Me

Edgar Albert Guest 1881 (Birmingham) – 1959 (Detroit, Michigan)



If you would please me when I've passed away
Let not your grief embitter you. Be brave;
Turn with full courage from my mounded grave
And smile upon the children at their play;
Let them make merry in their usual way;
Do not with sorrow those young lives enslave
Or steal from them the fleeting joys they crave;
Let not your grieving spoil their happy day.
Live on as you have lived these many years,
Still let your soul be gentle and be kind —
I never liked to see those eyes in tears!
Weep not too much that you must stay behind;
Share in the lives of others as you'd share,
If God had willed it still to leave me there.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 23, 2023

37 sec read
99

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBACDEDFF
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 624
Words 124
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Edgar Albert Guest

Edgar Albert Guest was a British-born American poet who was popular in the first half of the 20th century and became known as the People's Poet. His poems often had an inspirational and optimistic view of everyday life. more…

All Edgar Albert Guest poems | Edgar Albert Guest Books

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