A Gravestone Upon The Floor In The Cloisters Of Worcester Cathedral

  "MISERRIMUS," and neither name nor date,
  Prayer, text, or symbol, graven upon the stone;
  Nought but that word assigned to the unknown,
  That solitary word--to separate
  From all, and cast a cloud around the fate
  Of him who lies beneath. Most wretched one,
  'Who' chose his epitaph?--Himself alone
  Could thus have dared the grave to agitate,
  And claim, among the dead, this awful crown;
  Nor doubt that He marked also for his own 
  Close to these cloistral steps a burial-place,
  That every foot might fall with heavier tread,
  Trampling upon his vileness. Stranger, pass
  Softly!--To save the contrite, Jesus bled.