Death & Dying

An Epitaph

by Francis Beaumont 1586–1616

From Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, ed. George Gilfillan (1860)

Death & Dying

Here she lies, whose spotless fame
Invites a stone to learn her name:
The rigid Spartan that denied
An epitaph to all that died,
Unless for war, in charity
Would here vouchsafe an elegy.
She died a wife, but yet her mind,
Beyond virginity refined,
From lawless fire remain'd as free
As now from heat her ashes be:
Keep well this pawn, thou marble chest;
Till it be call'd for, let it rest;
For while this jewel here is set,
The grave is like a cabinet.

MLA

Beaumont, Francis. “An Epitaph.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/beaumont/1/.

Chicago

Beaumont, Francis. “An Epitaph.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/beaumont/1/.

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