The epitaph

Thomas Gray

Here rests his head upon the lap of earth

A youth to fortune and to fame unknown.

Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth,

And Melancholy marked him for her own.

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,

Heaven did a recompense as largely send:

He gave to Misery all he had, a tear,

He gained from Heaven (’twas all he wished) a friend.

No farther seek his merits to disclose,

Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,

(There they alike in trembling hope repose)

The bosom of his Father and his God.

Fonte (primeira e última estrofe): Carpeaux, O. M. 2011. História da literatura ocidental, vol. 2. Brasília, Senado Federal. O trecho acima corresponde às últimas três estrofes de um poema maior, ‘Elegy written in a Country Churchyard’, publicado em livro em 1751.