from Elegy in a Country Churchyard

by Thomas Gray (1750) — a poem card from Justes Mots

A meditation on death's inevitability and the ultimate futility of earthly status, wealth, and beauty. From Gray's famous 'Elegy in a Country Churchyard,' these lines acknowledge that all paths—glory or obscurity—lead to the grave. Its philosophical resignation and universal truth make it timeless for memorials and meditations on mortality.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth ever gave,
Awaits alike the inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.…

Themes: sympathy · grief · reflection