Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

William Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649)

Sonnet to Sir W. Alexander (from The Cypresse Grove)

THOUGH I have twice been at the doors of death,

And twice found shut those gates which ever mourn,

This but a light’ning is, truce ta’en to breath,

For late-born sorrows augur fleet return.

Amidst thy sacred cares and courtly toils,

Alexis, when thou shalt hear wand’ring Fame

Tell Death hath triumph’d o’er my mortal spoils,

And that on earth I am but a sad name;

If thou e’er held me dear, by all our love,

By all that bliss, those joys Heaven here us gave,

I conjure thee, and by the maids of Jove,

To grave this short remembrance on my grave:

Here Damon lies, whose songs did sometime grace

The murmuring Esk; may roses shade the place!