Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

David Gray 1838–61

My Epitaph

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 thought 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.