{
 "id": "phillis-wheatley/to-his-honour-the-lieutenant-governor-on-the-death-of-his-lady-march-2",
 "title": "To His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, on the Death of His Lady. March 24, 1773",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Phillis Wheatley",
 "poet_slug": "phillis-wheatley",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral",
 "book_slug": "poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 36,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1773,
  "venue": "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://github.com/standardebooks/phillis-wheatley_poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/phillis-wheatley_poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral",
  "file": "poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/409",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsonvarioussu273whea",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofphilliswh00whea_1"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-14"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 44,
  "n_stanzas": 4,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 52,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "All-Conquering Death! by thy resistless pow’r,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hope’s tow’ring plumage falls to rise no more!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of scenes terrestrial how the glories fly,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Forget their splendors, and submit to die!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who ere escap’d thee, but the saint of old",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beyond the flood in sacred annals told,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the great sage, whom fiery coursers drew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To heav’n’s bright portals from Elisha’s view;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wond’ring he gaz’d at the refulgent car,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then snatch’d the mantle floating on the air.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From Death these only could exemption boast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And without dying gain’d th’ immortal coast.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not falling millions sate the tyrant’s mind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor can the victor’s progress be confin’d.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But cease thy strife with Death, fond Nature, cease:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He leads the virtuous to the realms of peace;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His to conduct to the immortal plains,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where heav’n’s Supreme in bliss and glory reigns.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "There sits, illustrious Sir, thy beauteous spouse;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A gem-blaz’d circle beaming on her brows.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hail’d with acclaim among the heav’nly choirs,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Her soul new-kindling with seraphic fires,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To notes divine she tunes the vocal strings,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While heav’n’s high concave with the music rings.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Virtue’s rewards can mortal pencil paint?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No⁠—all descriptive arts, and eloquence are faint;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor canst thou, Oliver, assent refuse",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To heav’nly tidings from the Afric muse.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "As soon may change thy laws, eternal fate,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "As the saint miss the glories I relate;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or her Benevolence forgotten lie,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which wip’d the trick’ling tear from Mis’ry’s eye.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whene’er the adverse winds were known to blow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When loss to loss ensu’d, and woe to woe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Calm and serene beneath her father’s hand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She sat resign’d to the divine command.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "No longer then, great Sir, her death deplore,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And let us hear the mournful sigh no more,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Restrain the sorrow streaming from thine eye,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Be all thy future moments crown’d with joy!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor let thy wishes be to earth confin’d,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But soaring high pursue th’ unbodied mind.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Forgive the muse, forgive th’ advent’rous lays,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That fain thy soul to heav’nly scenes would raise.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}