Classic Poem

To PHILOMELA. Occasioned by her POEM on the death of her Husband.

I.

While you in soft harmonious strains bewail
Your dear Alexis, we attend the tale,
And lose our grief, as kinder thoughts prevail.

II.

Justly you tell what merit in him shone,
Yet, tho' unartfully, you then make known,
In more resplendent characters, your own.

III.

'Twas thought unjust by his unspotted mind,
Such matchless worth should be to one confin'd;
So modestly he all his right resign'd.

IV.

Since then you must the sacred passion move
In each admiring swain, how can you prove
To him more faithful, than once more to love?