And thus they sought to place him where,
When life’s clear sun should rise,
Its earliest rays might wakening fall
Across his close-sealed eyes.
Like a faint fragrance lingering on
Throughout unnumbered years,
Still in our country burial-grounds
The custom sweet appears;
Still, when the light of life from eyes
Beloved is withdrawn,
The sleepers’ dreamless beds are made
Facing the looked-for dawn.
There, as the seasons pass, they seem
Serenely to await
The certain radiance of that Morn
That cometh soon or late.
GOOD NIGHT
Dear earth, I am going away to-night
From your long-loved hills and your meadows bright;
I know I should miss you when I am dead
If a better world came not in your stead.
For the sweet, long days in your woodlands spent,
And your starry dusks, I shall not lament;
For greater than all the wonders you show,
O earth, is the secret I soon shall know.
Good night! And now as I fall asleep
I give you the garment I wore to keep;
You will hold it safely till morning dawn
And I rise from my slumber to put it on.