Epitaph: Being Part of an Inscription for a Monument
Farewell, my best-beloved; whose heavenly mind
Genius with virtue, strength with softness join’d;
Devotion, undebased by pride or art,
With meek simplicity, and joy of heart.
Though sprightly, gentle; though polite, sincere;
And only of thyself a judge severe;
Unblamed, unequall’d in each sphere of life,
The tenderest Daughter, Sister, Parent, Wife,
In thee, their Patroness, th’ afflicted lost;
Thy friends, their pattern, ornament, and boast;
And I - but ah, can words my loss declare,
Or paint th’ extremes of transport and despair!
O Thou, beyond what verse or speech can tell,
My guide, my friend, my best-beloved, farewell!
