Farewell, my best-beloved; whose heavenly mind <br />Genius with virtue, strength with softness join'd; <br />Devotion, undebased by pride or art, <br />With meek simplicity, and joy of heart. <br />Though sprightly, gentle; though polite, sincere; <br />And only of thyself a judge severe; <br />Unblamed, unequall'd in each sphere of life, <br />The tenderest Daughter, Sister, Parent, Wife, <br />In thee, their Patroness, th' afflicted lost; <br />Thy friends, their pattern, ornament, and boast; <br />And I - but ah, can words my loss declare, <br />Or paint th' extremes of transport and despair! <br />O Thou, beyond what verse or speech can tell, <br />My guide, my friend, my best-beloved, farewell!<br /><br />James Beattie<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/epitaph-being-part-of-an-inscription-for-a-monument/
