University of Virginia Library


17

CORINNA'S EPITAPH.

HERE sleeps what was innocence once, but its snows
Were sullied and trod with disdain;
Here lies what was beauty, but pluck'd was its rose,
And flung like a weed to the plain.
O pilgrim, look down on her grave with a sigh,
Who fell the sad victim of art;
Ev'n Cruelty's self must bid her hard eye
A pearl of compassion impart.
Ah! think not, ye prudes, that a sigh, or a tear,
Can offend of all Nature the God;
Lo! Virtue already has mourn'd at her bier,
And the lily will bloom on her sod.