Mary Monck (1677?-1715)
Verses Wrote on her Death-Bed at Bath, to her Husband, in London
1THOU, who dost all my worldly thoughts employ,
2Thou pleasing source of all my earthly joy :
3Thou tend'rest husband, and thou best of friends,
4To thee this first, this last adieu I send.
5At length the conqu'ror death asserts his right,
6And will for ever veil me from thy sight.
7He wooes me to him with a chearful grace ;
8And not one terror clouds his meagre face.
9He promises a lasting rest from pain ;
10And shews that all life's fleeting joys are vain.
11Th' eternal scenes of heav'n he sets in view,
12And tells me that no other joys are true.
13But love, fond love, would yet resist his pow'r ;
14Would fain awhile defer the parting hour :
15He brings thy mourning image to my eyes,
16And would obstruct my journey to the skies.
17But say, thou dearest, thou unwearied friend ;
18Say, should'st thou grieve to see my sorrows end ?
19Thou know'st a painful pilgrimage I've past ;
20And should'st thou grieve that rest is come at last ?
21Rather rejoice to see me shake off life,
22And die as I have liv'd, thy faithful wife.
Online text copyright © 2011, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Poems by Eminent Ladies (London: R. Baldwin, 1755): II, 195-96. B-10 6457 Fisher Rare Book Library
First publication date:
1755
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: RPO 1996-2000.
Recent editing: 2:2002/3/28
Form: couplets
Other poems by Mary Monck
