Forgive and Forget

Forgive and Forget

Forgive and forget! why the world would be lonely,
     The garden a wilderness left to deform,
If the flowers but remembered the chilling winds only,
     And the fields gave no verdure for fear of the storm!
Oh! still in thy loveliness emblem the flower,
     Give the fragrance of feeling to sweeten life’s way;
And prolong not again the brief cloud of an hour,
     With tears that but darken the rest of the day!

Forgive and forget! there’s no breast so unfeeling
     But some gentle thoughts of affection there live;
And the best of us all require something concealing,
     Some heart that with smiles can forget and forgive!
Then away with the cloud from those beautiful eyes
     That brow was no home for such frowns to have met:
Oh! how could our spirits e’er hope for the skies,
     If Heaven refused to forgive and forget.

by Charles Swain