Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral/To a Lady on the Death of her Husband
To a Lady on the Death of her Husband.
Grim monarch! see, depriv'd of vital breath,A young physician in the dust of death:Dost thou go on incessant to destroy,Our griefs to double, and lay waste our joy?Enough thou never yet wast known to say, 5Though millions die, the vassals of thy sway:Nor youth, nor science, nor the ties of love,Nor aught on earth thy flinty heart can move.The friend, the spouse from his dire dart to save,In vain we ask the sovereign of the grave. 10Fair mourner, there see thy lov'd Leonard laid,And o'er him spread the deep impervious shade;Clos'd are his eyes, and heavy fetters keepHis senses bound in never-waking sleep,Till time shall cease, till many a starry world 15Shall fall from heav'n, in dire confusion hurl'd,Till nature in her final wreck shall lie,And her last groan shall rend the azure sky: Not, not till then his active soul shall claimHis body, a divine immortal frame. 20
But see the softly-stealing tears apacePursue each other down the mourner's face;But cease thy tears, bid ev'ry sigh depart,And cast the load of anguish from thine heart:From the cold shell of his great soul arise, 25And look beyond, thou native of the skies;There fix thy view, where fleeter than the windThy Leonard mounts, and leaves the earth behind.Thyself prepare to pass the vale of nightTo join for ever on the hills of light: 30To thine embrace his joyful spirit moves To thee, the partner of his earthly loves;He welcomes thee to pleasures more refin'd,And better suited to th' immortal mind.