Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley/To the Hon T.H., Esq.
TO THE HON. T.H. ESQ.
On the Death of his Daughter.
While deep you mourn beneath the cypress shade
The hand of death, and your dear daughter laid
In dust, whose absence gives your tears to flow,
And racks your bosoms with incessant woe,
Let Recollection take a tender part,
Assuage the raging tortures of your heart,
Still the wild tempests of tumultuous grief,
And pour the heavenly nectar of relief:
Suspend the sigh, dear Sir, and check the groan,—
Divinely bright your daughters virtues shone:
How free from scornful pride her gentle mind,
Which ne'er its aid to indigence declined!
Expanding free, it sought the means to prove
Unfailing charity, unbounded love!
She unreluctant flies, to see no more
Her dear loved parents on earth's dusky shore:
Impatient heaven's resplendent goal to gain,
She with swift progress cuts the azure plain,
Where grief subsides, where changes are no more,
And life's tumultuous billows cease to roar;
She leaves her earthly mansion fur the skies,
Where new creations feast her wondering eyes.
To heaven's high mandate, cheerfully resigned,
She mounts, and leaves the rolling globe behind;
She, who late wished that Leonard might return,
Has ceased to languish, and forgot to mourn;
To the same high empyreal mansion come,
She joins her spouse and smiles upon the tomb:
And thus I hear her from the realms above:
"Lo this the kingdom of celestial love!
"Could ye, fond parents, see our present bliss,
"How soon would you each sigh, each fear dismiss!
"Amidst unuttered pleasures whilst I play
"In the fair sunshine of celestial day,
"As far as grief affects a happy soul,
"So far doth grief my better mind control,
"To see on earth my aged parents mourn,
"And secret wish for T———l to return:
"Let brighter scenes your evening hours employ:
"Converse with heaven, and taste the promised joy."