Why did they tear me from thy breathless clay?

I should have stay’d and wept my life away.

Yet, gentle shade! whether thou now dost rove,

Thro’ some blest vale, or ever-verdant grove,

One moment listen to my grief, and take

The softest vows that ever love can make.

For thee, all thoughts of pleasure I forgo,

For thee my tears shall never cease to flow;

For thee at once I from the world retire,

To feed in silent shades a hopeless fire.