Oxford Book of English Verse, Part 2 by  Arthur Quiller-Couch

Her Passing

The beauty and the life

Of life's and beauty's fairest paragon

—O tears! O grief!—hung at a feeble thread

To which pale Atropos had set her knife;

The soul with many a groan

Had left each outward part,

And now did take his last leave of the heart:

Naught else did want, save death, ev'n to be dead;

When the afflicted band about her bed,

Seeing so fair him come in lips, cheeks, eyes,

Cried,  "Ah! and can Death enter Paradise?"

— William Drummond of Hawthornden
1585-1649   


 Table of Contents  |  Index  |  Home  | Previous: Spring Bereaved III  |  Next: Inexorable
Copyright (c) 2005 - 2023   Yesterday's Classics, LLC. All Rights Reserved.