Epitaph

Ask not, who ended here his span?
His name, reproach, and praise, was Man.
Did no great deeds adorn his course?
No deed of his but show'd him worse:
One thing was great, which God supplied,
He suffer'd human life — and died.
What points of knowledge did he gain?
That life was sacred all — and vain:
Sacred how high, and vain how low?
He knew not here, but died to know.