Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Poems, Volume 1, The Ninth Edition/Sonnet XLIX

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SONNET XLIX.


FROM THE NOVEL OF CELESTINA.

SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN IN A CHURCH-YARD,
OVER THE GRAVE OF A YOUNG WOMAN OF NINETEEN.

O THOU! who sleep'st where hazle-bands entwine
    The vernal grass, with paler violets drest;
I would, sweet maid! thy humble bed were mine,
    And mine thy calm and enviable rest.
For never more by human ills opprest
    Shall thy soft spirit fruitlessly repine:
    Thou canst not now thy fondest hopes resign
Even in the hour that should have made thee blest.
Light lies the turf upon thy virgin breast;
    And lingering here, to Love and Sorrow true,
The youth who once thy simple heart possest
    Shall mingle tears with April's early dew;
While still for him shall faithful Memory save
Thy form and virtues from the silent grave.