J. C. Squire, ed. A Book of Women’s Verse. 1921.
By Katherine Philips (Orinda) (16311664)Orinda upon Little Hector Philips
T
Then had my vows crown’d with a lovely boy,
And yet in forty days he dropt away,
O swift vicissitude of human joy.
I did but pluck the rose-bud and it fell,
A sorrow unforeseen and scarcely fear’d,
For ill can mortals their afflictions spell.
Suggest to right my doleful fate or thee,
Tears are my Muse and sorrow all my art,
So piercing groans must be thy elegy.
I grieve thy loss (Ah boy too dear to live)
And let the unconcerned world alone,
Who neither will, nor can refreshment give.
Too just a tribute to thy early hearse,
Receive these gasping numbers to thy grave,
The last of thy unhappy mother’s verse.