At that white funeral of the single life,

Her maiden daughter’s marriage; and her tears

Are half of pleasure, half of pain—the child

Is happy—e’en in leaving her! but Thou,

True daughter, whose all-faithful, filial eyes

Have seen the loneliness of earthly thrones,

Wilt neither quit the widow’d Crown, nor let

This later light of Love have risen in vain,

But moving thro’ the Mother’s home, between

The two that love thee, lead a summer life,