"The Dead Rose"
Go faded flower and tell the youthful maid
However bright - her hopes or fair she be,
That in the dust her beauty must be laid
As thou dost wither - even so must she
Tell her while gaily fluttering in the crowd
In all the variety of fashion drest,
How soon that forme may wither in the shroud
How soon the grass may flourish o'er that breast.
Tell her decay is but one common lot
That her bright dream of hope will quickly fly
And (which it seems the now remembered not,)
Tell her, Sweet Moralist - that she must die;
Bid her - Oh bid her evry hour preface
If spotless to her death-bed she be given,
Like thine, her ashes shall perfume the air,
Her breath, like incense reasend to Heaven.
signed "J.M.D. / Balto. Sept - 29 : 1842"
Possibly "J.M.D." is John Darling, husband
of Eliza Potter; Eliza Potter and Hannah's
mother Mary Seagar Potter were sisters
