[ANNE ROSS]
“To the memory of a Young LADY, who died in the eleventh year of her age”
All ye who mourn
The loss of friends that’s dear,
The mournful scene that is exhibit here,
Bids envy cease, and pity drop a tear.
To you, whose hearts can feel when others mourn,
This is address’d, it soon may be your turn;
Their case to day, to-morrow may be your’s,
The clearest sun oft sets in clouds and showers.
A tender mother reared a darling child, 5
Joy of her friends, and all the country’s pride;
Her person graceful, her complexion fair,
An antient Baronet’s apparent heir.
Her comely face display’d a lively bloom,
Which promis’d health, and many years to come; 10
T’ inform her mind, and make her wise as fair,
Was still her honour’d mother’s constant care.
For her, to Heav’n, she still address’d her prayer,
That it might always keep her in its care;
That she, in ev’ry stage of life, might shine, 15
And see her race, a long and prosp’rous line.
Her aunt and mother saw, with glad surprise,
Inherent virtues near perfection rise:
Their hopes were rais’d, their expectations high;
But soon, alas! their expectations fly. 20
How fleeting are our pleasures, here below?
A stream of joy, now turns a tide of woe.
From bloom of health, this darling child is seiz’d,
Laid on her bed and pain’d with sore disease;
If human aid could cure, that aid was giv’n; 25
But who can alter the decree of Heav’n.
How calm and patient in distress she lay;
In all her trouble never ceas’d to pray:
Th’ afflicted mother sends her sighs to Heav’n,
Restore my child, and all I wish is giv’n. 30
If this request’s deny’d, O! help me still,
To be resign’d unto thy heavenly will;
Heav’n, oft in mercy, does our wish deny,
Our surest hope is fix’d above the sky.
The child was quite resign’d; to die was gain, 35
Her prayer was not for life, but ease from pain:
Her prayer was not unheard, her wish was given;
Her blessed Saviour takes her home to heaven.
In youth and innocence, the child she dies,
And angels waft her spirit to the skies. 40
NOTES:
Epigraph Unable to trace; possibly provided by the author.
5 reared “To raise a person” (OED).
8 antient “The spelling of ‘ancient’ from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century; it refers to the titles of office or position formerly occupied” (OED).
16 race A poetical term that refers to “a set of children or descendants” (OED).
24 sore “Violent with pain” (Johnson).
40 waft “To carry through the air” (Johnson).
Source: Poems on Several Occasions (Glasgow, 1791), pp. 36-38. [Google Books]
Edited by Ka Wing Tsang
