Pastoral Poems (Breton); Selected Poetry (Wither); Pastoral Poetry (Browne)/On the Countess Dowager of Pembroke

by William Browne

For other versions of this work, see On the Countess Dowager of Pembroke.

On the Countess Dowager of Pembroke

Underneath this sable herse
Lies the subject of all verse:
Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother:
Death, ere thou hast slain another,
Fair and learn'd, and good as she,
Time shall throw a dart at thee.

Marble piles let no man raise
To her name: for after days
Some kind woman born as she,
Reading this, like Niobe
Shall turn marble, and become
Both her mourner and her tomb.