Fragment

A Fragment [1]

When, to their airy hall, my Fathers' voice

Shall call my spirit, joyful in their choice;

When, pois'd upon the gale, my form shall ride,

Or, dark in mist, descend the mountain's side;

Oh! may my shade behold no sculptur'd urns,

To mark the spot where earth to earth returns!

No lengthen'd scroll, no praise-encumber'd stone;

My _epitaph_ shall be my name alone: [2]

If _that_ with honour fail to crown my clay,

Oh! may no other fame my deeds repay!

_That_, only _that_, shall single out the spot;

By that remember'd, or with that forgot.

1803.

[Footnote 1: There is no heading in the Quarto.]

[Footnote 2: In his will, drawn up in 1811, Byron gave directions that
"no inscription, save his name and age, should be written on his tomb."
June, 1819, he wrote to Murray: "Some of the epitaphs at the Certosa
cemetery, at Ferrara, pleased me more than the more splendid monuments
at Bologna; for instance, 'Martini Luigi Implora pace.' Can anything be
more full of pathos? I hope whoever may survive me will see those two
words, and no more, put over me."--'Life', pp. 131, 398.]

-THE END-
Lord Byron's poem: A Fragment

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