A NAMELESS grave, -- there is no stone To sanctify the dead: O'er it the willow droops alone, With only wild flowers spread. "Oh, there is nought to interest here, No record of a name, A trumpet call upon the ear, High on the roll of fame. "I will not pause beside a tomb Where nothing calls to mind Aught that can brighten mortal gloom, Or elevate mankind; -- "No glorious memory to efface The stain of meaner clay; No intellect whose heavenly trace Redeem'd our earth: -- away!" Ah, these are thoughts that well may rise On youth's ambitious pride; But I will sit and moralise This lowly stone beside. Here thousands might have slept, whose name Had been to thee a spell, To light thy flashing eyes with flame, -- To bid thy young heart swell. Here might have been a warrior's rest, Some chief who bravely bled, With waving banner, sculptured crest, And laurel on his head. That laurel must have had its blood, That blood have caused its tear; -- Look on the lovely solitude, -- What! wish for warfare here! A poet might have slept, -- what! he Whose restless heart first wakes Its life-pulse into melody, Then o'er it pines and breaks? -- He who hath sung of passionate love, His life a feverish tale: -- Oh! not the nightingale, the dove Would suit this quiet vale. See, I have named your favourite too, -- Each had been glad to crave Rest 'neath this turf's unbroken dew, And such a nameless grave! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THREE FRIENDS OF MINE: 5; SONNET by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW SPRING'S WELCOME, FR. ALEXANDER AND CAMPASPE by JOHN LYLY SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 27. ENGLAND by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) THREE PASTORAL ELEGIES: 1 by WILLIAM BASSE MOONSTRUCK by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT TO A FRIEND DYING by ROBERT BRIDGES (1858-1941) THE MOTHER LOVE by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON ON THE UNION AND THREE-FOLD DISTINCTION OF GOD, NATURE AND CREATURE by JOHN BYROM |