10 December 1830 – 15 May 1886 / Amherst / Massachusetts
If Recollecting Were Forgetting
33
If recollecting were forgetting,
Then I remember not.
And if forgetting, recollecting,
How near I had forgot.
And if to miss, were merry,
And to mourn, were gay,
How very blithe the fingers
That gathered this, Today!