On the Death of Richard West
In
vain
to
me
the
smiling
Mornings
shine,
And
reddening
Phœbus
lifts
his
golden
fire;
The
birds
in
vain
their
amorous
descant
join;
Or
cheerful
fields
resume
their
green
attire;
These
ears,
alas!
for
other
notes
repine,
A
different
object
do
these
eyes
require;
My
lonely
anguish
melts
no
heart
but
mine;
And
in
my
breast
the
imperfect
joys
expire.
Yet
Morning
smiles
the
busy
race
to
cheer,
And
new-born
pleasure
brings
to
happier
men;
The
fields
to
all
their
wonted
tribute
bear;
To
warm
their
little
loves
the
birds
complain;
I
fruitless
mourn
to
him
that
cannot
hear,
And
weep
the
more
because
I
weep
in
vain.
Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray (born Dec. 26, 1716, London—died July 30, 1771, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Eng.) English poet whose “An Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard” is one of the best known of English lyric poems. Although his literary output was slight, he was the dominant poetic figure in the mid-18th century and a precursor of the Romantic movement.