On Margaret Ratcliffe

XL.
 ? ON MARGARET RATCLIFFE.
  
M arble, weep, for thou dost cover 
A dead beauty underneath thee, 
R ich as nature could bequeath thee : 
G rant then, no rude hand remove her.
 
A ll the gazers on the skies 
R ead not in fair heaven's story, 
E xpresser truth, or truer glory, 
T han they might in her bright eyes.
 
R are as wonder was her wit ; 
A nd, like nectar, ever flowing : 
T ill time, strong by her bestowing, 
C onquer'd hath both life and it ; 
L ife, whose grief was out of fashion 
I n these times.
  Few so have rued 
F ate in a brother.
  To conclude, 
F or wit, feature, and true passion, 
E arth, thou hast not such another.

[ AJ Note:
    Margaret Ratcliffe was one of Queen Elizabeth's 
    ladies-in-waiting.
 She wasted away from grief in
    November 1599, after long mourning the deaths 
    of four of her brothers.
 ] 

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