Poems (Sewell)/To the Memory of Lady E. Worsley

by Mary Young Sewell

TO THE MEMORY OF LADY ELIZABETH WORSLEY, January, 1800.

Say! shou'd we mourn thee! oh exalted saint?
Tho' gen'rous friendship pours its mild complaint,
Tho' Gratitude, with soft assiduous care,
Seeks for thy grave, and strews its roses there;
Say, should we mourn thee? by Almighty Power
Releas'd, in mercy, from the suff'ring hour!
Ah no! thy Christian virtues shall impart
A balm most lenient, while they wound the heart;
Thy Piety sincere—thy Friendship true,
Thy Charity, retir'd from public view!
Thy gen'rous kindness! eager to select
The worthy object of the world's neglect,
With ev'ry excellence that shone confest,
Shall glow, with memory, in the conscious breast.
Sweet is the Hope that bright Religion gives!—
We know in Death—that our Redeemer lives!
And those like thee, who patiently endure,
Tho' Nature fails, shall find His Promise Sure.