| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| To Imperia |
| | | Aubrey Thomas De Vere (b. 1814) |
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| THOU art not, and thou never canst be mine; | |
| The die of fate for me is thrown, | |
| And thou art made | |
| No more to me than some resplendent shade | |
| Flung on the canvas by old art divine; | 5 |
| Or vision of shap’d stone; | |
| Or the far glory of some starry sign | |
| Which hath a beauty unapproachable | |
| To aught but sight,—a throne | |
| High in the heavens and out of reach; | 10 |
| Therefore with this low speech | |
| I bid thee now a long and last farewell | |
| Ere I depart, in busy crowds to dwell, | |
| Yet be alone. | |
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| All pleasures of this pleasant Earth be thine! | 15 |
| Yea, let her servants fondly press | |
| Unto thy feet, | |
| Bearing all sights most fair, all scents most sweet: | |
| Spring, playing with her wreath of budded vine; | |
| Summer, with stately tress | 20 |
| Prink’d with green wheat-ears and the white corn-bine; | |
| And Autumn, crown’d from the yellow forest-tree; | |
| —And Winter, in his dress | |
| Begemm’d with icicles, from snow dead-white | |
| Shooting their wondrous light; | 25 |
| These be thine ever. But I ask of thee | |
| One blessing only to beseech for me,— | |
| Forgetfulness. | |
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