William Collins

Ode, Written in the Beginning of the Year 1746

How sleep the brace who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest!
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallow'd mold,
She there shall dress a sweeter sod
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod.

By fairy hands their knell is rung,
By forms unseen their dirge is sung;
There Honour comes, a pilgrim grey,
To bless the turf that wraps their clay;
And Freedom shall awhile repair,
To dwell a weeping hermit there!

- William Collins

The man who proved indolence and great 

poems can go hand in hand.

I first came across this poem when I was in high school, working on an English assignment.  We had to find a number of poems representing different forms and then write several poems of our own.  I found Collins' ode probably because it has 'ode' in the title and I needed an example of an ode!  But I always liked the imagery in this one, the 'dewy fingers', the 'turf that wraps their clay'.  I don't think I really understood what it meant but I liked the way it was written.  I even ended up using the line 'By forms unseen their dirge is sung' as the title of my mini-compilation.  Since then it has always stuck in my head.