Classic Poem

O man who standest on my tomb,
I was erst as thou art now;
My bed to-day is the grave,
no marrow or pith is in my bones;
thou, though strong and young wilt not
live always, though granted respite;
heed thou my counsel and be wise,
oft reflect that death will come.

Remember thy soul and thy Saviour,
remember Paradise over every place;
take the opportunity of safety
in blissfulness, eternally.
Although we did fall in the Garden
through the lapse on Adam's part,
our courage rose anew
when we obtained the covenant of grace.

Remember always to determine
thou wilt keep every commandment;
since 'tis the powers of the Supreme King
that left them on two tablets;
these were delivered unto Moses
and Moses passed them to the rest:
were we able to observe them,
death were not a cause of fear.

'Tis a change of being, and not death,
with gracious, perpetual blessing;
fair is the place where each that liveth
the better life will have reward;
the soul will not be in distress,
though the body resteth in the grave
to the day in which the doom will come,
and Adam's race will rise.

The trumpet will be loudly blown,
its sound will be heard everywhere;
the dead will be wakened from the field
where others laid them in their sleep,
and such as perished by tempest
or the cold welter of the sea;
to Mount Zion will go the throng
to triumph by the blood of the Lamb.

They will prevail as did the seed
that amply sprouted in the soil:
part of it grew healthy, upright,
and part was stunted, twisted scrag;
the fruitful part, in which there is
substance and heavy yield, is kept;
the part that is light will be lost,
and the chaff committed to the wind.

There is no woman or man living,
or wedded couple, but must part;
many were they, old and young,
folk we knew, who are no more;
It were not a cause for sorrow
to cover them beneath the sod,
earth on earth would not be woeful,
if their death found them undefiled.

I have now taken farewell of the world,
and of the people who remained therein;
I had a term full hale and active,
'twas old age that left me faint;
my faculties have perished,
for now death hath supervened;
'tis my petition, that, for my Saviour's sake,
in the world beyond it may be well with me.