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Mother's Epitaph by Anne Bradstreet

The full name of this poem is "An Epitaph on My Dear and Ever-Honored Mother, Mrs. Dorothy Dudley, Who Deceased DECEMB. 27 1643, and of Her Age of 61."

Here lyes

A worthy Matron of unspotted life, 
A loving Mother and obedient wife, 
A friendly Neighbor pitiful to poor, 
Whom oft she fed and clothed with her store, 
To Servants wisely aweful but yet kind, 
And as they did so they reward did find; 
A true Instructer of her Family, 
The which she ordered with dexterity. 
The publick meetings ever did frequent, 
And in her Closet constant hours she spent; 
Religious in all her words and wayes 
Preparing still for death till end of dayes; 
Of all her Children, Children lived to see, 
Then dying, left a blessed memory.

Source: Anne Bradstreet and her Time, By Helen Campbell, 1891