Page:Memoir and poems of Phillis Wheatley, a native African and a slave.djvu/156

150 Th' indelible vestige of unblemished love,

Must hence a guide to generations prove: Though virtuous partners moulder in the tomb, Their light may shine on ages yet to come.

With grateful tears their well-spent day shall close, WVhen death, like evening, calls them to repose; Then mystic smiles may break from deep disguise, Like Vesper's torch transpiring in the skies.

Like constellations still their works may shine, In virtue's unextinguished blaze divine; Happy are they whose race shall end the same— Sweeter than odors is a virtuous name.

Such is the transcript of unfading grace, Reflecting lustre on a future race, The virtuous on this line delight to tread, And magnify the honors of the dead—

Who like a Phoenix did not burn in vain, Incinerated to revive again; From whose exalted urn young love shall rise, Exulting from a funeral sacrifice.