Ere death had releaved her from pain,
I pray’d that her son she’d forgive;
She implor’d me from vice to abstain,
And in future more pious to live.
Scarce had I her blessing received,
And had faintly sigh’d out an adieu;
When I found her from troubles reliev’d,
While mine where arising anew.
Emotion of grief tears my heart,
More painful then e’er felt before;
When compell’d from her tomb to depart,
Her loss I shall daily deplore.
an address
TO CALISTA,
Taken from life.
Calista, tho’ you waft a smile,
And blithsome still appear;
It does not censure ought beguile,
Or stop the stifled tear.
Its levity your conduct sway,
And tarnish much your name;
Too much her dictates you obey,
The prudent must you blame.
A married woman never can,
Meet in a secret place;
An artful gay and single man,
And not incur disgrace.
Censure you long have borne it’s true,
At that you can’t complain;
That fiend will harass you anew,
If you transgress again.
Ne’er listen to each tale of love,
The Siren fain would tell;
Chaste to your husband ever prove,
Lothario bid farewell.
Tho’ guilt is vanished from the eye,
Of mortals here below;
A God above can all descry,
Our secret thoughts he know.