Diaphenia
Shepherds, since my time is come1
Nothing loth my life I yield,2
Put aside my task ;3
When my heavy lids are sealed,4
When my aching lips are dumb,5
This alone I ask :6
Lay me not in churchyard ground,7
Though I die a very maid,8
Though my sins be light,9
Lest my poor uneasy shade10
Break its consecrated bound,11
Wander through the night,12
Take the path that skirts the wood,13
Haunt with tears the hollow green14
Underneath the hill,15
Where a garden once has been,16
Where a wingéd image stood,17
Half a garden still.18
There I sate and kept my sheep,19
While the shepherd piped his flute,20
While the spring was fair ;21
When September strowed the fruit,22
There my heart was buried deep :23
Shepherds, lay me there.24