Bereavement

I DO not want my body white to lie
In the dark earth when I have gone away;
The hands, that will both work for me and play,
The feet, that have gone always far and nigh
As I have wanted, the soft hair that I
Have loved to let fall down at close of day
And feel it warm about me; yet they say
I must to these forever say good-bye.

My soul, that is no part of me at all,
That I have never learned to understand,
Will go with me into that far-off land;
Yet when, unwillingly, I hear it call —
How shall I this endure, from life to sever,
To leave the lips that kissed my love, forever?