Dear still to goodness, if unknown to fame.
Be thine the grateful task, O humble muse
(Virtue’s thy theme, and thou canst ne’er refuse),
Be thine the task that goodness to deplore,
Which Death, relentless, bids to be no more;
To sing th’ unspotted life, unknown to blame.
But every virtue dear to woman’s name;
The meek-eyed charity, the guileless heart,
The long enduring under sorrow’s smart;
The ready friend to comfort in distress;