Death & Dying

My Epitaph

by David Gray 1838–1861

From The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse (1912)

Death & Dying

Below lies one whose name was traced in sand:
He died, not knowing what it was to live:
Died, while the first sweet consciousness of manhood
To maiden thoughts electrified his soul,
Faint heatings in the calyx of the rose.

Bewilder'd reader, pass without a sigh
In a proud sorrow! There is life with God
In other kingdom of a sweeter air.
In Eden every flower is blown: Amen.

MLA

Gray, David. “My Epitaph.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/gray_d/0/.

Chicago

Gray, David. “My Epitaph.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/gray_d/0/.

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