| Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916. | | | XII. Love and Death
To Castara | | By William Habington (1605–1654) |
| | | WHY should we fear to melt away in death? | |
| May we but die together. When beneath, | |
| In a cool vault we sleep, the world will prove | |
| Religious, and call it the shrine of Love. | |
| There, when o’ th’ wedding eve some beauteous maid, | 5 |
| Suspicious of the faith of man, hath paid | |
| The tribute of her vows; o’ th’ sudden she | |
| Two violets sprouting from the tomb will see: | |
| And cry out, ‘Ye sweet emblems of their zeal | |
| Who live below, sprang ye up to reveal | 10 |
| The story of our future joys, how we, | |
| The faithful patterns of their love shall be? | |
| If not, hang down your heads opprest with dew, | |
| And I will weep and wither hence with you.’ | | | | |
|
|
