294. Epitaph
On the Lady Mary Villiers

Thomas Carew. 1595?-1639?


THE Lady Mary Villiers lies
Under this stone; with weeping eyes
The parents that first gave her birth,
And their sad friends, laid her in earth.
If any of them, Reader, were
Known unto thee, shed a tear;
Or if thyself possess a gem
As dear to thee, as this to them,
Though a stranger to this place,
Bewail in theirs thine own hard case:
  For thou perhaps at thy return
  May'st find thy Darling in an urn.

The Oxford Book of English Verse, HTML edition