Epitaph on the Death of the Demoiselle Elisabeth Ranquet, Poem by Pierre Corneille

Poem by Pierre Corneille Themes DeathPeriod 17th century

Shed no tears upon this grave,
Passerby; this funeral bed is a precious bed,
Where lies the purest ashes of a wholly pure body;
But the zeal of the heart still lives in this place.

Before paying the debt of nature,
Her soul, rising beyond her eyes,
Had united the creature to the Creator;
And walking on earth she was in the heavens.

The poor far better than she have felt her wealth;
Humility and hardship were her joy;
And her last sigh was a sigh of love.

Passerby, may a noble fire carry you away by her example;
And, far from weeping for her having lost the light of day,
Believe that one never dies when one dies in such a way.

Pierre Corneille

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/poem-epitaph-on-the-death-of-demoiselle-elisabeth-ranquet-pierre-corneille/