Ossian Collection > Poetical works of James Macpherson, Esq

Il8 ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG LADY.
Mute is the tongue which pleas'd his foul before,
And beauty blufhes in that cheek no more.
Peace, gentle {hade, attend thy balmy reft,
And earth fit lightly on thy fnowy breaft ;
Let guardian nngels gently hover round,
And downy filence haunt the hallow'd ground :
There let the Spring its fweeteft offspring rear,
And fad Aurora flied her earlieft tear.
Some future maid perhaps, as fhe goes by,
Shall view the place where her cold reliques lie :
Folly for once may fadden into care,
And pride, unconfcious, (lied one generous tear ; W
While this big truth is fwelling in the breaft.
That death nor fpares the faireft nor the beft ;
That virtue feels th' unalterable doom.
And beauty's felf muft moulder in the tomb.