Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79. | | | | Chillington | | Inscription for a Stone | | William Cowper (1731–1800) |
| | Erected at the Sowing of a Grove of Oaks at Chillington, the Seat of T. Gifford, Esq., 1790 |
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OTHER stones the era tell | |
| When some feeble mortal fell; | |
| I stand here to date the birth | |
| Of these hardy sons of earth. | |
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| Which shall longest brave the sky, | 5 |
| Storm and frost,—these oaks or I? | |
| Pass an age or two away, | |
| I must moulder and decay; | |
| But the years that crumble me | |
| Shall invigorate the tree, | 10 |
| Spread its branch, dilate its size, | |
| Lift its summit to the skies. | |
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| Cherish honor, virtue, truth, | |
| So shalt thou prolong thy youth. | |
| Wanting these, however fast | 15 |
| Man be fixed and formed to last, | |
| He is lifeless even now, | |
| Stone at heart, and cannot grow. | | | |
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