ephemera

aktorpoet.com/ephemera (microblog)

 From the first draft of Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard, per today's entry in Chambers:

 

The thoughtless World to majesty may bow, 

Exalt the brave, and idolise success; 

But more to Innocence their safety owe 

Than Power and Genius e'er conspired to bless. 

 

And thou who, mindful of the unhonoured Dead, 

Dost in these notes their artless tale relate, 

By night and lonely contemplation led 

To linger in the lonely walks of Fate, 

 

Hark how the sacred calm that reigns around 

Bids every fierce tumultuous passion cease; 

Instill small accents whisp'ring from the ground 

A grateful earnest of eternal peace. 

 

No more with Reason and thyself at strife, 

Give anxious cares and endless wishes room; 

But through the cool, sequester'd vale of life 

Pursue the silent tenor of thy doom