The Death-Smile of Cowper

'O orphan smile! born since our mourner died —
We ever long'd for thee, but saw thee not,
Till now, in posthumous beauty; nought beside
Could have so moved us, while our tears were hot
And thrilling. Art thou not to each sad friend
The symbol of a long-desired release?
A lovely prelude of immortal peace,
Now that the storm of life has reach'd its end?'
Fresh from kind Hayley's page these words I wrote,
As though I lean'd o'er Cowper, and beheld,
As present fact, what I from records quote;
By rapture of pure sympathy impell'd
To join those first eye-witnesses, and note
A death-smile, and the sorrow that it quell'd.