Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, EPITAPH ON LADY RICH, by SIDNEY GODOLPHIN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

EPITAPH ON LADY RICH, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Possest of all that nature could bestow
Last Line: Have never honour'd any tomb than hers.
Subject(s): Epitaphs


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.





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