For thee, who, mindful of th’ unhonour’d dead,
      Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;
    If chance, by lonely Contemplation led,
      Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,

    Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,
     “Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn
    Brushing with hasty steps the dews away,
      To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.

   “There at the foot of yonder nodding beech
      That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,
    His listless length at noon-tide would he stretch,
      And pore upon the brook that babbles by.

   “Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
      Muttering his wayward fancies he would rove;
    Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,
      Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love.

   “One morn I miss’d him on the custom’d hill,
      Along the heath, and near his favourite tree;
    Another came; nor yet beside the rill,
      Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he.

   “The next with dirges due in sad array
      Slow thro’ the church-way path we saw him borne. 
    Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay,
      Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn.”

    THE EPITAPH.

    Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
      A Youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown;
    Fair Science frown’d not on his humble birth,
      And Melancholy mark’d him for her own.

    Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
      Heaven did a recompense as largely send: 
    He gave to Mis’ry all he had, a tear: 
      He gain’d from Heav’n (’twas all he wish’d) 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.

THOMAS GRAY.

RABBI BEN EZRA

“Rabbi Ben Ezra” (by Robert Browning, 1812-89).  Youth is for dispute and age for counsel; each year, each period of a man’s life is but the necessary step to the next.  Youth is an uncertain thing to bank on.

“Grow old along with me! 
The best is yet to be,
The last of life for which the first was made.”

“Rabbi Ben Ezra” is a plea for each period in life.  Aspiration is the keynote.

" ...  Trust God; see all, nor be afraid!”

Grow old along with me! 
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made: 
Our times are in His hand
Who saith, “A whole I plann’d,
Youth shows but half; trust God:  see all nor be afraid!”

Not that, amassing flowers,
Youth sigh’d, “Which rose make ours,
Which lily leave and then as best recall?”
Not that, admiring stars,
It yearn’d, “Nor Jove, nor Mars;
Mine be some figured flame which blends, transcends them all!”