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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  342. An Epitaph upon Husband and Wife Who died and were buried together

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

Richard Crashaw. 1613?–1649

342. An Epitaph upon Husband and Wife Who died and were buried together

TO these whom death again did wed 
This grave ‘s the second marriage-bed. 
For though the hand of Fate could force 
‘Twixt soul and body a divorce, 
It could not sever man and wife,         5
Because they both lived but one life. 
Peace, good reader, do not weep; 
Peace, the lovers are asleep. 
They, sweet turtles, folded lie 
In the last knot that love could tie.  10
Let them sleep, let them sleep on, 
Till the stormy night be gone, 
And the eternal morrow dawn; 
Then the curtains will be drawn, 
And they wake into a light  15
Whose day shall never die in night.