Because I Liked You

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.
 

A.E. Housman