How near me came the hand of Death, <br />When at my side he struck my dear, <br />And took away the precious breath <br />Which quicken’d my belovàd peer!1 <br />How helpless am I thereby made! <br />By day how grieved, by night how sad! <br />And now my life’s delight is gone, <br />—Alas! how am I left alone! <br />The voice which I did more esteem <br />Than music in her sweetest key, <br />Those eyes which unto me did seem <br />More comfortable than the day; <br />Those now by me, as they have been, <br />Shall never more be heard or seen; <br />But what I once enjoy’d in them <br />Shall seem hereafter as a dream. <br />Lord! keep me faithful to the trust <br />Which my dear spouse reposed in me: <br />To him now dead preserve me just <br />In all that should performàd be! <br />For though our being man and wife <br />Extendeth only to this life, <br />Yet neither life nor death should end <br />The being of a faithful friend.<br /><br />George Wither<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-widow-s-hymn/
