Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, EPITAPH ON LADY OSSORY'S BULLFINCH, by HORACE (HORATIO) WALPOLE


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EPITAPH ON LADY OSSORY'S BULLFINCH, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: All flesh is grass and so are feather too: / finches must die, as well as I & yo
Last Line: What serves for one will serve for t' other.
Alternate Author Name(s): Orford, 4th Earl Of
Variant Title(s): Epitaph On Two Piping-bullfinches Of Lady Ossry's
Subject(s): Epitaphs; Feathers; Finches; Funerals; Rest; Burials


ALL flesh is grass, and so are feathers too:
Finches must die, as well as I and you.
Beneath a damask rose, in good old age,
Here lies the tenant of a noble cage.
For forty moons he charmed his lady's ear,
And piped obedient oft as she drew near,
Though now stretched out upon a clay-cold bier.
But when the last shrill flageolet shall sound,
And raise all dickybirds from holy ground,
His little corpse again its wings shall plume,
And sing eternally the self-same tune,
From everlasting night to everlasting noon.

On the Other Bullfinch, Buried in the Same Place

Beneath the same bush rests his brother—
What serves for one will serve for t' other.





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