Classic Poem

Mr. Thomas Manwood

T O me more known than you is your sad chance.
Oh! had I still enjoy'd such ignorance;
Then I by these spent tears had not been known,
Nor left another's grief to sing mine own.
Yet since his late hath wrought these throes,
Permit a Partner in your woes:
The cause doth yield, and still may do,
Enough for You , and others too.
But if such plaints for You are kept,
Yet may I grieve since you have wept.
For he more perfect grows to be,
That feels another's M ISERY .
And though these drops which mourning run,
From several fountains first begun,
And some far off, some nearer fleet,
They will (at last) in one stream meet.
Mine shall with yours, yours mix with mine,
And make one Oft'ring at his Shrine:
For whose E TERNITY on earth, my Muse
To build this A LTAR , did her best skill use;
And that you, I, and all that held him dear,
Our tears and sighs might freely offer here.