Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79. | | | | Lichfield | | Epitaph | | Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) |
| | Designed for a Monument in Lichfield Cathedral, at the Burial-place of the Family of Miss Seward |
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AMID these aisles, where once his precepts showed | |
| The heavenward pathway which in life he trode, | |
| This simple tablet marks a father’s bier, | |
| And those he loved in life in death are near; | |
| For him, for them, a daughter bade it rise, | 5 |
| Memorial of domestic charities. | |
| Still wouldst thou know why, o’er the marble spread, | |
| In female grace the willow droops her head; | |
| Why on her branches, silent and unstrung, | |
| The minstrel harp is emblematic hung; | 10 |
| What poet’s voice is smothered here in dust | |
| Till waked to join the chorus of the just,— | |
| Lo! one brief line an answer sad supplies, | |
| Honored, beloved, and mourned, here Seward lies! | |
| Her worth, her warmth of heart, let friendship say,— | 15 |
| Go seek her genius in her living lay. | | | |
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