III.
‘Ashes to ashes?’ Yes!
Let it be thus with those whom age has chilled,
Whose life is but the dying ember’s glow—
There let it be fulfilled!
Say, ‘When the altar-fires but dimly burn,
‘Ashes to ashes, dust to dust’ return!’
And with that aged band,
The blackened craters of whose hearts are charred
By scathéd hopes and Hate’s undying brand;
Let not this fate be marred:
Ope wide thy portals, Grave! Death, pass them down!
For these, and such as these, are all thine own.