Long was his illness, tedious and severe,
Hard by a London Churchyard dwelt our friend;
He follow’d to the grave a neighbour’s bier,
He met thereby (’twas what he fear’d) his end.
No longer seek Corruption to enclose
Within the places of mankind’s abode;
But far from cities let our dust repose,
Where daisies blossom on the verdant clod.
(Published during the dreadful Cholera Visitation, when attention was being called to the danger of burials in the crowded churchyards of the City of London.)
Punch. September 15, 1849.