They have laid him away;
Even he who was always so strong and gay
Will be locked in the earth till the judgment day;
"Dust unto dust" I have heard the priest say.
He will never return;
Though I weep my eyes blind, though I pray and yearn,--
Though the star-light goes out and the great suns burn
Into whitest ash,--he will never return.
So of weeping--no more;
It is tears fill the oceans from shore to shore;
They have made the wind salt--the wind at my door;
They harm the good ground--so of weeping--no more.
"Not again!" "Not again!"
Do you hear the sea singing that one refrain?
The pine trees, the wind and the wearysome rain
All whisper it; "Never again!"--"Not again!"
Who can tell me--who knows,
Where his lonely soul travels?
Whither it goes?--
Has he gone like the leaves?--Like yesterday's snows?--
Speak, dear Lord of Death! You who died--and arose!