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