In this cold monument lies one, That I knew who has lain upon, The happier He: her sight would charm, And touch have kept King David warm. Lovely, as is the dawning East, Was this marble's frozen guest; As soft, and snowy, as that down Adorns the blow-ball's frizzled crown; As straight and slender as the crest, Or antlet of the one-beam'd beast; Pleasant as th' odorous month of May: As glorious, and as light as day. Whom I admir'd, as soon as knew, And now her memory pursue With such a superstitious lust, That I could fumble with her dust. She all perfections had, and more, Tempting, as if design'd a whore, For so she was; and since there are Such, I could wish them all as fair. Pretty she was, and young, and wise, And in her calling so precise, That industry had made her prove The sucking school-mistress of love: And Death, ambitious to become Her pupil, left his ghastly home, And, seeing how we us'd her here, The raw-boned rascal ravisht her. Who, pretty soul, resign'd her breath, To seek new lechery in Death. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HARRISON STREET COURT by CARL SANDBURG APPARENT FAILURE by ROBERT BROWNING THE HOUSE-TOP; A NIGHT PIECE by HERMAN MELVILLE INDIAN NAMES by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY FAREWELL TO THE FARM by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON |