From "A Monody on the Death of Washington"

Before the splendours of thy high renown,
How fade the glow-worm lustres of a crown!
How sink, diminish' d, in that radiance lost,
The glare of conquest and of power the boast!
Let Greece her Alexander's deeds proclaim,
Or Cesar's triumphs gild the Eoman name;
Stript of the dazzling glare around them cast,
Shrinks at their crimes humanity aghast;
With equal claim to honour's glorious meed,
See Attila his course of havoc lead;
O'er Asia's realm, in one vast ruin hurl'd,
See furious Zinges' bloody flag unfurl'd.
On base far different from the conqueror's claim,
Rests the unsullied column of thy fame;
His on the graves of millions proudly based,
With blood cemented and with tears defaced;
Thine on a nation's welfare fixed sublime,
By freedom strengthen'd, and revered by time:
He, as the comet whose portentous light
Spreads baleful splendour o'er the glooms of night,
With dire amazement chills the startled breast,
While storms and earthquakes dread its course attest;
And nature trembles, lest in chaos hurl'd
Should sink the tottering fragment of the world;
Thine, like the sun, whose kind, propitious ray,
Opes the glad morn, and lights the fields of day,
Dispels the wintry storm, the chilling rain,
With rich abundance clothes the fertile plain,
Gives all creation to rejoice around,
And light and life extends, o'er nature's utmost bound.
Though shone thy life a model bright of praise,
Not less the example bright thy death portrays,
When, plunged in deepest wo around thy bed,
Each eye was fix'd, despairing sunk each head,
While nature struggled with extremest pain,
And scarce could life's last lingering powers retain;
In that dread moment, awfully serene,
No trace of suffering marked thy placid mien,
No groan, no murmuring plaint escaped thy tongu e;
No longing shadows o'er thy brow were hung;
But, calm in Christian hope, undamp'd with fear,
Thou sawest the high reward of virtue near.
On that bright meed, in surest trust reposed,
As thy firm hand thine eyes expiring closed,
Pleased, to the will of Heaven resign'd thy breath,
And smiled, as nature's struggles closed in death.