An Elegy upon my best friend, L. K. C.

[Countess of Leinster: died June 15, 1657.]

Should we our sorrows in this method range,

Oft as misfortune doth their subjects change,

And to the sev'ral losses which befall,

Pay diff'rent rites at ev'ry funeral;

Like narrow springs, drain'd by dispersed streams,

We must want tears to wail such various themes,

And prove defective in Death's mournful laws,

Not having words proportion'd to each cause.