Regret not me

     Regret not me;
   Beneath the sunny tree
 I lie uncaring, slumbering peacefully.

     Swift as the light
   I flew my faery flight;
 Ecstatically I moved, and feared no night.

     I did not know
   That heydays fade and go,
 But deemed that what was would be always so.

     I skipped at morn
   Between the yellowing corn,
 Thinking it good and glorious to be born.

     I ran at eves
   Among the piled-up sheaves,
 Dreaming, `I greave not, therefore nothing grieves'

     Now soon will come
   The apple, pear, and plum,
 And hinds will sing, and autumn insects hum.

     Again you will fare
   To cider-makings rare,
 And junketings; but I shall not be there.

     Yet gaily sing
   Until the pewter ring
 Those songs we sang when we went gipsying.

     And lightly dance
   Some triple-timed romance
 In coupled figures, and forget mischance;

     And mourn not me
   Beneath the yellowing tree;
 For I shall mind not, slumbering peacefully.

by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) , no title, from Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries with Miscellaneous Pieces, published 1914

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) , "The dance continued", op. 14 no. 10, published 1933 [tenor and piano], from A Young Man's Exhortation, no. 10.
by Henry Handel Richardson (1870-1946) [pseudonym] , "Regret not me"

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