Sweet is the scene when Virtue dies!— <br />When sinks a righteous soul to rest, <br />How mildly beam the closing eyes, <br />How gently heaves the' expiring breast! <br />So fades a summer cloud away; <br />So sinks the gale when storms are o'er; <br />So gently shuts the eye of day; <br />So dies a wave along the shore. <br />Triumphant smiles the victor brow, <br />Fanned by some angel's purple wing;— <br />Where is, O Grave! thy victory now? <br />And where, insidious Death! thy sting? <br />Farewell, conflicting joys and fears, <br />Where light and shade alternate dwell; <br />How bright the' unchanging morn appears! <br />Farewell, inconstant world, Farewell! <br />Its duty done,—as sinks the clay, <br />Light from its load the spirit flies; <br />While heaven and earth combine to say, <br />“Sweet is the scene when Virtue dies!”<br /><br />Anna Laetitia Barbauld<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-death-of-virtuous/
