XXXI (from More Poems)

A. E. Housman

Because I liked you better
  Than suits a man to say,
It irked you, and I promised
To throw the thought away.

To put the world between us
  We parted, stiff and dry;
`Good-bye,' said you, `forget me.'
`I will, no fear', said I.

If here, where clover whitens
  The dead man's knoll, you pass,
And no tall flower to meet you
  Starts in the trefoiled grass,

Halt by the headstone naming
  The heart no longer stirred,
And say the lad that loved you
  Was one that kept his word.