28.10.2007, 14:43
ON THE DEATH OF QUEEN CAROLINE.
WHO shall lament to know thy aching head
Hath found its pillow ? that in long repose
Great Death, the noblest of thy kingly foes,
Hath laid thee, and, with sacred veil outspread,
Guards thee from basest insults P Thou hast led
A solitary course, among the great
A regal hermitess, despoiled of state,
Or mocked and fretted by one tattered shred
Of melancholy grandeur : thou didst wed
Only to be more mournfully alone !
But now, thy sad regalities o'erthrown,
No more an alien from the common fate,
Thou hast one human blessing for thine own
A place of rest in Nature's kindliest bed.
WHO shall lament to know thy aching head
Hath found its pillow ? that in long repose
Great Death, the noblest of thy kingly foes,
Hath laid thee, and, with sacred veil outspread,
Guards thee from basest insults P Thou hast led
A solitary course, among the great
A regal hermitess, despoiled of state,
Or mocked and fretted by one tattered shred
Of melancholy grandeur : thou didst wed
Only to be more mournfully alone !
But now, thy sad regalities o'erthrown,
No more an alien from the common fate,
Thou hast one human blessing for thine own
A place of rest in Nature's kindliest bed.