Which not all ages shall cast down agen;
Offspring of Time shall then be born each hour,
Which, as of old, earth lovingly shall guard,
To live forever in youth’s perfect flower,
And guide her future children Heavenward.”
And here is one, on the same theme, which many a brother poet would do well to emulate. How fitly this sonnet might have been read to Gray!
“Poet! who sittest in thy pleasant room,
Warming thy heart with idle thoughts of love,
And of a holy life that leads above,
Striving to keep life’s spring-flowers still in bloom,