Edmund Blunden: "Things Quiet And Unconcerned"

Edmund Blunden is buried in the Holy Trinity churchyard in the village of Long Melford, Suffolk.

In addition to the phrase "Beloved Poet," these lines (from his poem "The Seers") are carved on his gravestone:
          I live still
          to love still
          things quiet
          & unconcerned.

The words bring to mind this poem by Ivor Gurney:

                 The Escape

I believe in the increasing of life: whatever
Leads to the seeing of small trifles,
Real, beautiful, is good; and an act never
Is worthier than in freeing spirit that stifles
Under ingratitude's weight, nor is anything done
Wiselier than the moving or breaking to sight
Of a thing hidden under by custom -- revealed,
Fulfilled, used (sound-fashioned) any way out to delight:
Trefoil -- hedge sparrow -- the stars on the edge at night.

Considering what these two gentle souls endured (something which we can never come near to grasping), perhaps we can learn a thing or two from them about the value of "things quiet and unconcerned" and of "small trifles."