POSSEST of all that nature could bestow, All we can wish to be, or seek to know, Equal to all the patterns that our mind Can frame of good, beyond the good we find: All beauties which have power to bless the sight, Mixed with transparent virtue's greater light -- At once producing love and reverence, The admiration of the soul and sense: The most discerning thoughts, the calmest breast, Most apt to pardon, needing pardon least; The largest mind, and which did most extend To all the laws of Daughter, Wife, and Friend; The most allowed example by what line To live, what part to follow, what decline; Who best all distant virtues reconciled -- Strict, cheerful, humble, great, severe, and mild, Constantly pious to her latest breath, Not more a pattern in her life than death: -- The Lady Rich lies here: more frequent tears Have never honour'd any tomb than hers. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON A TUFT OF GRASS by EMMA LAZARUS THE SELF-UNSEEING by THOMAS HARDY OUR STATE by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER MAXIMS FOR THE OLD HOUSE: THE THRESHOLD by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH OBSERVATIONS IN THE ART OF ENGLISH POESY: 19. ELEGIAC VERSE: THE SECOND EPIGRAM by THOMAS CAMPION |