Inscription for a Cemetery.
The grave, whatever thy degree,1
Thy final resting-place must be.2
What matters it, if few or more3
The years which our frail nature bore ?—4
If we upon the roll of fame5
Left an imperishable name,6
Or in some silent, safe retreat7
Escaped the turmoil and the heat,8
The stir, the struggle, and the strife,9
That make the sum of human life ?10
Of all the family of man,11
Since first the sons of earth began12
To make this glorious world a stage13
For rapine, blood, and lawless rage,14
How little can be said beside,15
But that they lived, and loved, and died !16
Of this be certain: ’tis the doom17
Of all, within the quiet tomb18
To find, life’s dangerous quicksands past,19
A shelter and a home at last !20