YOU that shall live awhile before Old Time tires, and is no more; When that this ambitious stone Stoops low as what it tramples on; Know that in that age when sin Gave the world law, and govern'd queen, A virgin liv'd, that still put on White thoughts, though out of fashion; That trac'd the stars spite of report, And durst be good though chidden for't; Of such a soul that infant Heav'n Repented what it thus had giv'n; For finding equal happy man, Th' impatient pow'rs snatch'd it agen. Thus, chaste as th' air whither she's fled, She, making her celestial bed In her warm alabaster, lay As cold as in this house of clay; Nor were the rooms unfit to feast Or circumscribe this angel guest; The radiant gem was brightly set In as divine a carcanet; For which the clearer was not known, Her mind or her complexion: Such an everlasting grace, Such a beatific face Encloisters here this narrow floor That possess'd all hearts before. Blest and bewail'd in death and birth! The smiles and tears of heav'n and earth! Virgins at each step are afear'd, Filmer is shot by which they steer'd, Their star extinct, their beauty dead That the young world to honour led. But see! the rapid spheres stand still, And tune themselves unto her will. Thus, although this marble must, As all things, crumble into dust, And though you find this fair-built tomb Ashes, as what lies in its womb; Yet her saint-like name shall shine A living glory to this shrine, And her eternal fame be read, When all but very Virtue's dead. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOHENLINDEN by THOMAS CAMPBELL THE HOCK-CART, OR HARVEST HOME by ROBERT HERRICK FAREWELL TO THE FARM by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON M. T. W. by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN NATIONALITY IN DRINKS by ROBERT BROWNING ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF ROBERT RUISSEAUX by ROBERT BURNS |