The Abbess

Wherefore I praised the Dead which are already dead, more than the Living which are yet alive.

Ecclesiastes iv. 2.

Better it is to die than live,
I constantly have taught;
Since human Life with anxious Care,
And various Ills is fraught.

Ungrateful Death me now compels
The like sad Path to tread,
With those whom in the silent Grave
The Fates severe have laid.