| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910. | | | | The Tomb | | By Thomas Stanley (1625–1678) |
| | | WHEN, cruel fair one, I am slain | |
| By thy disdain, | |
| And as a trophy of thy scorn | |
| To some old tomb am borne, | |
| Thy fetters must their power bequeath | 5 |
| To those of Death; | |
| Nor can thy flame immortal burn | |
| Like monumental fires within an urn. | |
| Thus freed from thy proud empire, I shall prove | |
| There is more liberty in Death than Love. | 10 |
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| And when forsaken lovers come | |
| To see my tomb, | |
| Take heed thou mix not with the crowd | |
| And as a victor, proud | |
| To view the spoils thy beauty made, | 15 |
| Press near my shade! | |
| Lest thy too cruel breath, or name, | |
| Should fan my ashes back into a flame, | |
| And thou, devour’d by this revengeful fire. | |
| His sacrifice, who died as thine, expire. | 20 |
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| Or should my dust thy pity move | |
| That could not, love, | |
| Thy sighs might wake me, and thy tears | |
| Renew my life and years; | |
| Or should thy proud insulting scorn | 25 |
| Laugh at my urn, | |
| Kindly deceiv’d by thy disdain, | |
| I might be smil’d into new life again. | |
| Then come not near: since both thy love and hate | |
| Have equal power to kill or animate. | 30 |
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| But if cold earth or marble must | |
| Conceal my dust, | |
| Whilst, hid in some dark ruins, I | |
| Dumb and forgotten lie, | |
| The pride of all thy victory | 35 |
| Will sleep with me; | |
| And they who should attest thy glory | |
| Will or forget, or not believe this story. | |
| Then, to increase thy triumph, let me rest, | |
| (Since by thine eye slain,) buried in thy breast! | 40 | | | |
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