English Poetry. Anne Bradstreet. Epitaphs. Анна Брэдстрит.

Anne Bradstreet (Анна Брэдстрит)

Epitaphs

Her Mother's Epitaph

Here lies
A worthy matron of unspotted life,
A loving mother and obedient wife,
A friendly neighbor, pitiful to poor,
Whom oft she fed, and clothed with her store;
To servants wisely aweful, but yet kind,
And as they did, so they reward did find:
A true instructor of her family,
The which she ordered with dexterity,
The public meetings ever did frequent,
And in her closest constant hours she spent;
Religious in all her words and ways,
Preparing still for death, till end of days:
Of all her children, children lived to see,
Then dying, left a blessed memory.


Her Father's Epitaph

Within this tomb a patriot lies
That was both pious, just and wise,
To truth a shield, to right a wall,
To sectaries a whip and maul,
A magazine of history,
A prizer of good company
In manners pleasant and severe
The good him loved, the bad did fear,
And when his time with years was spent
In some rejoiced, more did lament.
1653, age 77 

Anne Bradstreet’s other poems:

1. In Honour of that High and Mighty Princess, Queen Elizabeth
2. My Thankfull Heart with Glorying Tongue
3. To Her Father with Some Verses
4. To My Dear Children
5. For the Restoration of My Dear Husband from a Burning Ague, June, 1661

To the dedicated English version of this website

---