Before the Birth of a Child. 393
He eas'd my Soul of woe, my flcfh of pain,
And brought me to the fliore from troubled Main;
Before the Bii'th of one of her Children. [239]
All things within this fading world hath end,
Adverfity doth ftill our joyes attend;
No tyes fo ftrong, no friends fo dear and fweet,
But with deaths parting blow is fure to meet.
The fentence pall is moft irrovocable,
A common thing, yet oh inevitable;
How foon, my Dear, death may my fteps attend,
How foon't may be thy Lot to lofe thy friend,
We both are ignorant, yet love bids me
Thefe farewell lines to recommend to thee,
That when that knot's unty d that made us one,
I may feem thine, who in effe6t am none.
And if I fee not half my dayes that's due,
What nature would, God grant to yours and you;
The many faults that well you know I have,
Let be interr'd in my oblivions grave;
If any worth or virtue were in me,
Let that live frefhly in thy memory
And when thou feel'ft no grief, as I no harms,
Yet love thy dead, who long lay in thine arms:
And when thy lofs fhall be repaid with gains
Look to my little babes my dear remains.
And if thou love thy felf, or loved'ft me
Thefe O prote6l from ftep Dames injury.
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