When I Am Dead, My Dearest
by Christina Rossetti
as set to music by Leonard Lehrman, op. 6 #2
Copyright 1964
for Soprano
(or, transcribed, for Mezzo) and Piano
prem. 12/64 Roslyn High School (Soprano), Fontainebleau 7/69 (Mezzo)
also perf. Ghent (Belgium) 8/72, Heidelberg 5/13/80, Augsburg 7/21/80,
Basel 5/10/81, Vienna 5/82; LICA 5/24/92, 2/5/95
broadcast by WHRB, WBAI 3/79
recorded on Capstone #CPS-8647: Helene Williams sings Songs of Love
posted online:

sung by Helene Williams, accompanied by Leonard Lehrman, New York (1995)

sung by Elizabeth Parcells, accompanied by Leonard Lehrman, Augsburg, Germany (1980)

When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.