Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A SECOND ELEGY ON THE COUNTESS OF LEISTER, by HENRY KING (1592-1669)


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A SECOND ELEGY ON THE COUNTESS OF LEISTER, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sleep, precious ashes, in thy sacred urn
Last Line: Whose chiefest joys were in his dearest wife.
Subject(s): Stanhope, Katharine. Countess Leinster


SLEEP, precious ashes, in thy sacred urn
From Death and Grave till th' last trump sounds return;
Meanwhile embalm'd in Virtues. Joseph's Tomb
Were fitter for thee, than the Earth's dark womb.
Cease, Friends, to weep; she's but asleep, not dead, --
Chang'd from her husband's, to her mother's, bed;
Or from his bosom into Abram's rather,
Where now she rests, Blest Soul, in such a Father.
Thus Death hath done his best, and worst. His best,
In sending Virtue to her place of rest;
His worst, in leaving him, as dead, in life
Whose chiefest Joys were in his dearest Wife.





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